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A Study of the Sources oy 
Bunyan's Allegories 



WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO / 



DEGUILEVILLE'S PILGRIMAGE OF MAN 



A DISSERTATION 

submitted to the board of university studies of the 

johns hopkins university in conformity with 

the requirements for the degree of 

doctor of philosophy 

1904 

BY 

James Blanton Wharey 



BALTIMORE 

J. H. FURST COMPANY 

1904 



\ 






46 f 



\ 




-4 



\ 



A Study of the Sources of 
Bunyaws Allegories 



WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO 



DEGUILEVILLE'S PILGRIMAGE OF MAN 



A DISSERTATION 

submitted to the board of university studies of the 

johns hopkins university in conformity with 

the requirements for the degree of 

doctor of philosophy 

1904 

BY 

James Blanton Wharey 



BALTIMORE 

J. H. FURST COMPANY 

1904 



1^*3 



V3»» 



c-o 



?y 



& 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 
Introduction, 1 

I. GuiLLAUME DE DeGUTLEVILLE, 9 

1. Life and Works, ----------9 

2. French Manuscripts and Editions, ------ 10 

3. English Manuscripts and Editions, ------ 13 

II. Pilgrimage of Man Compared with Pilgrim's Progress, - 18 

III. Jean de Cartheny : The Voyage op the Wandering Knight, 69 

1. Preliminary Remarks, --69 

2. Outline of the Allegory, 70 

3. Discussion, -----74 

IV. Richard Bernard : The Isle of Man, 78 

1. Preliminary Remarks, ----78 

2. Outline of the Allegory, --------84 

3. Discussion, ..-89 

V. (^4) Boetitjs A. Bolswert : Dufykens Ende Willemynkens 

Pelgrimagie, - 92 

( B ) Simon Patrick : The Parable op the Pilgrim, - - 94 

1. Preliminary Remarks, --------94 

2. Outline of the Allegory, • . - - - - - - 96 

3. Discussion, -- 97 

VI. Other Books Suggestive of Bunyan, 99 

1. Non- Allegorical Works, 102 

2. Allegorical Works, - - - - - - - - -112 

Conclusion, 136 



PREFACE. 



The quotations from Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man cited in 
Chapter II are from a copy of ms. Ff. 6. 30 made by Mr. Alfred 
Rogers of the University Library, Cambridge. The pages refer 
to the pages of the original MS. 

I take this opportunity to correct an error overlooked in the 
proof-reading : " the yere of our Lord MCCC and thyrten " 
(p. 12) should read "the yere of our Lord MCCCC and 
thyrten." 



INTRODUCTION. 



The question of Bunyan's indebtedness to his predecessors in 
the field of allegory is not new. In his own time he was accused 
of having stolen his allegory, as we know from the vigorous denial 
of such charges which, under the title of " An Advertisement to 
the Reader," he appended to the Holy War. Though Bunyan 
here declared that ' matter and manner too was all his own/ the 
suggestions of possible prototypes have gone on multiplying, until 
now the list of books and poems cited has grown to considerable 
length. 

It would be interesting to know what specific charges of plagia- 
rism Bunyan' s contemporaries brought against him, but no evidence 
beyond the denial of Bunyan himself is at hand. The first specific 
suggestion which has come under my notice is the observation of 
Dr. Samuel Johnson, recorded by Boswell under date of April 30, 
1773, that Bunyan may have read Spenser, and that the Pilgrim's 
Progress begins very much like the poem of Dante. A few years 
later, 1776, the Rev. Augustus M. Toplady, in the September 
number of the Gospel Magazine for that year, mentions Richard 
Bernard's Isle of Man as the book which " in all probability sug- 
gested to Mr. John Bunyan the first idea of his c Pilgrim's Progress ' 
and of his ' Holy War.' " Mention is also made of Dr. Simon 
Patrick's Parable of the Pilgrim, but no importance is attached to 
it as a possible source of Bunyan's allegory. Dibdin, however, in 
his account of Deguileville's Pylgremage of the Sowle, published by 
Caxton, expressed the opinion that this book " rather than Bernard's 
1 Isle of Man ' laid the foundation of John Bunyan's ' Pilgrim's 
Progress.' " 1 

So far nothing more than bare suggestions had been made. In 
1828 James Montgomery, in an essay prefixed to an edition of 
the Pilgrim's Progress, discussed briefly its probable connection 

1 Typograph. Antiq. , i, 153. 



2 The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 

with Cartheny's Voyage of the Wcmderi/ng Knight, Bernard's Isle of 
Man, Patrick's Parable of the Pilgrim, Whitney's Book of Emblem*, 
Dent's The Plain Mounts Pathway to J leaven. lie pointed out a 
few parallelisms between each of these books and the Pilgrim'* 
Progress. 

Robert Southey became interested in this aspect of Bunyan- 
study, and in his Life of Banyan, written in 1830, devoted sev- 
eral pages to the probable influence upon Bunyan of The Voyage 
of the Wandering Knight, the Isle of Man, and Bolswert's Dufy- 
Jcens ende Willemynkens Pelgrimagie. He regarded the first and 
last of these allegories as of little or no importance, but was of 
the opinion that the Isle of Man had " had a considerable effect 
upon the style of Bunyan's invention." 

Robert Philip 1 was the next to discuss the question of Bunyan's 
sources. He attempted to give a short account of Deguileville's 
Pilgrimage of Man and Pilgrimage of the Soul, but confounded 
the two. To the books already mentioned he added the following : 
William Bond's The Pilgrimage of Perfect ion, 1526; Leonard 
Wright's The Pilgrimage to Pa?'adise, 1591 ; William Webster's 
The Pilgrim's Journey Towards Heaven, 1613; Robert Bruen's 
The Pilgrim's Practice, 1621 ; Thomas Taylor's The Pearl of the 
Gospel and the Pilgrim's Profession, 1624; The Pilgrim's Passe 
to the New Jerusalem, « M. R. Gent.," 1659. To this list Wilson 2 
added : Cavice's Libro del Percgrino, published at Venice in the 
early part of the 16th century ; Gawin Douglas's Palace of 
Honour; George Herbert's The Pilgrimage. 

As yet, with the possible exception of Montgomery and Southey, 
no one had made a serious attempt to investigate the value of 
any of these suggestions. The first to do so was George Offor, 
the indefatigable editor and ardent admirer of John Bunyan. In 
the third volume of his edition of Bunyan's works published in 1853, 
Offor sought to answer the question " Was Bunyan assisted in the 
Composition of his Pilgrim ? " " Every assertion or suggestion 

1 Robert Philip, The Life, Times, and Characteristics of John Bunyan, London, 
1839, pp. 557-565. 

2 J. M. Wilson, The Pilgrim's Progress with a life of Bunyan, London, Edin- 
burgh, Dublin, 1852. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 3 

of this kind," he declares, " that came to my knowledge has been 
investigated, and the works referred to have been analyzed. And 
beyond this, every allegorical work that could be found previous 
to the eighteenth century has been examined in all the European 
languages ; and the result is a perfect demonstration of the com- 
plete originality of Bunyan." l No fewer than fifty books are men- 
tioned by Oifor, and abstracts given of all that were accessible. 
In the edition of 1867 the number is increased to seventy-four. 
While Offor's work is invaluable as a basis for further investiga- 
tion, it is marred by the author's prejudice. Any suggestion of a 
possible source for the Pilgrim's Progress, Offor regarded as equiv- 
alent to a charge of plagiarism. Then the outlines which he gives 
are too meagre. This is especially true of the allegory most 
frequently cited in connection with Bunyan's sources — Deguile- 
ville's Pilgrimage of Man. 

In 1858 a writer, who signs himself " L. A. H.," contributed to 
the Methodist Quarterly Review 2 an article entitled : " The Poet and 
the Dreamer. 1. The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser, 2. 
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan." After comparing the 
Pilgrim's Progress with the first book of the Faerie Queene, the 
writer reaches the following conclusion : "To us it appears as 
evident that Bunyan had read, at least the first book of the Faerie 
Queen, as that Chaucer had read Boccaccio, or Milton Dante. 
We cannot but think that it in some degree molded his narrative 
and colored his descriptions, for there are parallelisms that hardly 
would have occurred otherwise, although there is no borrowing 
and no imitation." 

The same year, 1858, there appeared the most important con- 
tribution yet made to the subject of Bunyan's sources : The Ancient 
Poem of Gruillaume de Ghiileville entitled Le Pelerinage de V Homme 
compared with the Pilgrim's Progress of John Bunyan. Edited 
from notes collected by the late Mr. Nathaniel Hill, London, 
B. M. Pickering, 1858. Hill used as a basis for this comparison 

the French text of Deguileville published by Barthole et P^tit 

,» 

1 George Offor, The Works of John Bunyan, 3 vols., London, 1853, 2d ed., 1867, 
in, 12. 

2 The Methodist Quarterly Review, New York, April, 1858, pp. 209-227. 



4 The Sources of Jin i) !/an , x Allegories. 

about 1500, and the English verse translation of John Lydgate 
made in 1426. 1 He believed that Bunyan was greatly indebted to 
Deguileville and lie tried to prove it by showing that there were 
many parallelisms between the two allegories. Unfortunately he 
did not live to complete his work, which was published posthumously 
with Miss Katherine Isabella Cust as its editor. Many of the 
parallelisms which Hill cites will not bear close scrutiny. The 
whole book, which at best is but a mass of ill-digested matter, has 
been aptly described as a hodge-podge of odd bits of learning. 2 

In October, 1896, Richard Heath published an article in the 
Contemporary Review entitled "The Archetype of the Pilgrim's 
Progress," and in the July number of the following year another 
entitled " The Archetype of the Holy War." In these two very 
interesting essays an entirely new suggestion was made in regard 
to Bunyan' s sources. The author sought to prove that Bunyan 
drew his inspiration, not from the works of his predecessors, but 
from his knowledge of the struggles and persecutions of the 
Anabaptists. In support of this view many striking parallelisms 
between the two allegories and the history of the Anabaptists were 
adduced. 

The latest study of this question, which contributes however 
little of real value, is the dissertation of Otto Kotz, — Faerie 
Queene und Pilgrim's Progress. Ein beibrag zur quettervfrage 
Bunyans, Halle, 1899. 3 His conclusion is: "Nie kann man von 
direkter nachahmung oder auch nur von einfacher anlehnung 
reden, vielmehr hat man stets den eindruck das Bunyan die 
Feeenkonigin einmal gelesen hat, und dann in seinem Pilgrim's 
Progress ganz unbewusst erinncrungen an die Faerie Queene 
eintliessen lasst." In his opening chapter (p. 14), Kotz gives a 
resume of Hill's work, and then declares : " Es kann nach diesen 
ausfiihrungen Hills keinem zweifel rnehr unterlicgen, dass Bunyan 
irgend eine englische ubersetzung Guilevilles gekannt hat, und dass 

1 Lydgate' s verse translation then existed in MS. only. Cotton, Yitellius G. 
XIII and Cotton, Tiberius A. VII were the mss. used by Hill. 

* Catholic World, 1868, vi, 539. A review of Hill's book appeared in The 
Athmcmm, London, 1858, Part 2, p. 261. 

3 Also published in Anglia, xxn, 33-80. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 5 

sein Pilgrim's Progress von der altfranzosischen dichtimg beeinflusst 
worden ist. Wir diirfen ims ihm vollig anschliessen. Wenn wir 
auch nicht sovveit zu gehen brauchen, wie ten Brink, anch die 
anregung zur ganzen idee von Pilgrim's Progress aus Gnileville 
abzuleiten — sie konnte ja, wie wir gesehen, auch anderwarts her- 
stammen — , so ist doch sicker, dass die zahlreichen eigenheiten, die 
an Gnileville erinnern, unmoglich auf zufall beruhen konnen." 
This opinion, so positively asserted, is based solely upon the evi- 
dence advanced by Hill. 

In marked contrast to the opinion of Ivotz is that of Dr. Fur- 
nivall, which deserves consideration, coming, not from a special 
investigator of Bunyan's sources, it is true, but from one thoroughly 
familiar with Deguileville's Pilgrimage or at least with Lydgate's 
verse translation of it. In his characteristic " Forewords " to 
Part I of Lydgate's poem, Dr. Furnivall conjectures : " I suppose 
our members will read enough of it to settle, each in his own 
mind, whether this Pilgrimage had anything to do with the 
Pilgrim's Progress. I don't think it had ; for Deguileville's main 
object was to expound and enforce the chief articles of Romanist 
doctrine by any arguments, however absurd." 1 

Evidently the question of Bunyan's indebtedness to Deguileville 
has never been satisfactorily investigated. For many years it has 
been known that during the seventeenth century a modernised 
version of Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man circulated in MS. 
form. In 1869, Wm. Aldis Wright, who edited an English 
prose version (of the fifteenth century) for the Roxburghe Club, 
expressed the opinion that if Bunyan were familiar with Deguile- 
ville's allegory, it must have been through the modernised version. 2 
Some twenty years ago the E. E. T. S. had a copy made of this 
version, but unfortunately this was burned before the Society could 
publish it. Although Wright's suggestion has been often repeated, 
no comparison has yet been made between tins seventeenth century 
version and the Pilgrim's Progress. 

1 F. J. Furnivall, The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man, E. E. T. S., Extra Series, 
i,xxvii, London, 1899, p. vi. 

2 Wm. Aldis Wright, The Pilgrimage of the Lyf of the Manhode from the French of 
Guillaume Be Deguileville. Printed for the Koxburghe Club, London, 1869, 
Preface, p. x. 



6 The Sources of Bunyan' s Allegories. 

In the present study I have attempted (1) to compare in detail 
this modernised version of Deguileville's allegory with the PMgrim?8 

Progress, and to determine whether or not Bnnyan was familiar 
with it ; (2) to treat in the same way the other books which, next 
to Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man, have been oftenest mentioned 
among Bunyan's possible sources, — Cartheny's Voyage of the 
Wandering Knigld, Bernard's Isle of Man, Bolswert's Dufykens 
ende Willemynkens Pelgri magic, Patrick's Parable of the Pilgrim; 
(3) to see what suggestions might have come to Bnnyan from other 
works the titles or the subject-matter of which would lead us to 
connect them with allegorical pilgrimages. 



Before such a study is begun, a few facts concerning Bunyan, 
which have more or less bearing upon the problem, should be 
noted. 

Bunyan was born in 1628. Of his parentage little is known. 
He himself says in Grmee Abounding "my descent was of a low 
and inconsiderable generation ; my father's house being of that 
rank that is meanest and most despised of all the families in the 
land." * The language employed by Bunyan in speaking of himself 
must not, however, be interpreted too literally. Dr. Brown, whose 
Life of Bunyan is the best that has yet been written, has brought 
together sufficient evidence to show that Bunyan' s parents, though 
poor, were in all probability thoroughly respectable. 2 This opinion 
is supported by the fact that Bunyau's parents were ambitious for 
their son to receive an education. " It pleased God to put it into 
their hearts," says Bunyan, " to put me to school to learn both to 
read and write; the which I also attained, according to the rate of 
other poor men's children ; though, to my shame I confess, I did 
soon lose that little I learned, and that even almost utterly." 1 
There is no good reason for supposing that he ever attended the 
Bedford Grammar School. His school-days must have been few 
and the knowledge acquired the most rudimentary ; that he knew 
no language save his own may be confidently assumed. 

1 Offor, I, 6. 

2 John Brown, John Bunyan, London, 18S5, pp. 33 ff. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 7 

In his sixteenth year Bnnyan enlisted in the Parliamentary 
army. His few months of military service no doubt proved a 
valuable experience when he came to describe the siege of Man- 
soul, the battles between the forces of Immanuel and the forces of 
Diabolus, the exploits of Capt. Greatheart. A few years later 
Bunyan married, though he and the woman he chose for a wife 
were " as poor as poor might be, not having so much as a dish or 
spoon." His wife brought as her dowry two books which Bunyan 
and she frequently read together : The Plain Han's Pathway to 
Heaven by Arthur Dent, and The Practice of Piety by Lewis 
Bayly. 

The next four years were a time of intense spiritual conflict. 
His doubts and fears, his despair, his anguish of body and of 
soul, and finally the peace of sins forgiven — all these he describes 
with terrible earnestness in Grace Abounding. He was received 
into the Baptist Church at Bedford in 1653, during the pastorate 
of the Rev. John Gilford, — the prototype, it is thought, of Evan- 
gelist. Two years later Bunyan began preaching in the country 
adjoining Bedford, and met with immediate success. 

His imprisonment began in 1660, and with the exception of a 
few weeks continued for twelve years. A third imprisonment 
lasting about six months, Dr. Brown by a clever conjecture 
assigned to the winter and early spring of 1675-76. This con- 
jecture has been recently verified by the discovery of the original 
warrant for Bunyan's third arrest. 1 Since the finding of this 
warrant there can scarcely be any doubt that Dr. Brown is right 
in supposing that Bunyan was confined in the county jail during 
the first two imprisonments and in the town jail during the third, 
and that during this last imprisonment he wrote, or at least began, 
the Pilgrim's Progress. 

This discovery of a third imprisonment in 1675-6 as the time 
in which the Pilgrim's Progress was written, nullifies whatever 
force there is in the argument, so often urged by Bunyan's 
admirers, that being in jail he could not possibly have had access 

1 W. G. Thorpe : "How I found the Bunyan Warrant," Gentleman 1 s Magazine, 
cclxvhi (Feb., 1890), 192-200. 



8 The Sources of Bv/wyan's Allegories. 

to the writings of other men ; for, during the interval of three 
years between 1672 and 1675, Bunyan was at liberty and might 
then have fallen in with some book containing the idea of an 
allegorical pilgrimage. It also removes the necessity of explaining 
why the Pilgrim's Progress was not published sooner, — an explana- 
tion involving a real difficulty if we suppose the allegory to have 
been written during the twelve years' imprisonment. 

The first edition of the Pilgrim's Progress appeared in 1678, 
having been entered in the Stationers' Register Dec. 22, 1677, and 
licensed Feb. 18, 1678. The second edition containing several 
important additions was published the same year ; the third, with 
still further additions, in 1679. Seven years after the publication 
of the First Part, the Second Part appeared. In the meantime 
Bunyan published in 1682 his second great allegory, the Holy 
War. He died August 31, 1688. 



I. 

GUILLAUME DE DEGUILEVILLE. 



1. Life and Works. 



Of Guillaume de Deguileville little is known. He was the son 
of Thomas of Guileville, and was born in Paris about 1295. He 
became a monk in the Cistercian abbey of Chaalis, and before his 
death probably its prior. In 1330-'l, at the age of thirty-six, he 
wrote his first Pilgrimage. He died at the abbey some time after 
1358. 1 

Deguileville was the author of: "Le romant des trois pelerinaiges ; 
le premier est de Vhomme durant qu'est en vie, 2 le second de Vdme 
separee du corps, et le troisieme de N. S. Jesus- Christ." s These 
three Pilgrimages, forming a great trilogy of over 36,000 lines, 
have been recently edited for the Roxburghe Club by Professor 
J. J. Stiirzinger. 4 

The first Pilgrimage was composed, according to Deguileville's 
own testimony, in 1330-'l. Until recently it has been always 
thought that the second Pilgrimage was written immediately after 
the first. 5 Prof. Stiirzinger gives the following excellent reasons 

1 Biographie Universelle, New Edition, xvm, 190 ; Abbe* Goujet, Bibliotheque 
francaise, ix, 71-74 ; Wm. Aldis Wright, The Pilgrimage of the Lyf of the Manhode, 
Roxburghe Club, London, 1869, Preface, p. iii ; DeVisch, Bibliotheca Scriptorum 
S. ordinis Cisterciensis, 1649, p. 122 ; Manuscrits du Fonds Francais, I, 61, No. 
602 ; J. E. Hultman, Guillaume de Deguileville En Studie i Fransk Litteralur- 
historia, Upsala, 1902 ; Gustav Grober, Grundriss der Bom. Phil., n, 749-754. 

2 The first Pilgrimage is sometimes entitled Le Pelerinage de V Homme, sometimes 
Le Pelerinage de la Vie Humaine. 

3 Biographie Universelle, xvin, 190. In Le Pelerinage de V Ame, Deguileville 
alludes to certain poems of his written in Latin. These are printed by Prof. 
Stiirzinger in the Appendix to his edition of Ame. 

4 Ije Pelerinage de Vie Humaine de Guillaume de Deguileville, Nichols & Sons, 
London, 1893 ; Le Pelerinage de V Ame, 1895 ; Le PUerinage Jhesucrist, 1898. 

5 Ward, Catalogue of Romances in the Brit. Mus., ir, 558-9; Blades' Caxton, n, 
163 ; Gaston Paris, La Lilt. Franc, au MoyenAge, p. 228, § 156. 

9 



10 Tlie Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 

for supposing that the second Pilgrimage was written after 1355, 
the date of the second recension of the first Pilgrimage : " Lines 
3007- , 12 1 of the following text of Ame refer to a passage which 
occurs only in the second recension of the first Pilgrimage. Lines 
9376-'7, 2 1721-'2 3 and 11070-'l 4 speak of the poet's old age of 
over sixty years. The Pilgrimage of the Soul was therefore com- 
posed after the second recension of the first Pilgrimage and after 
1355, this second recension being written in 1355 and the poet 
being born in 1294 or 1295. That it was completed before 1358 
will be seen from the third Pilgrimage." 5 

2. French Manuscripts and Editions. 

The three Pilgrimages seem to have been composed respectively 
in 1330-'l, in 1355, and in 1358. 6 That they became exceedingly 
popular is proved by the numerous manuscripts of the French texts 
and by the several translations into Spanish, Dutch, and English. 
Prof. Stiirzinger has made a list of the various MSS. of the French 
texts still extant in France, England, Belgium, Germany, Russia, 
and Italy. 7 There are 53 (or 54) 8 mss. copies of the first Pilgrimage, 

1 11. 3007-'12 : "Tu dis voir, dist il, mes tresbien 

Me souvient que n'en feis rien, 

Quant la nierciere ou temps passe 

T'eu(s)t le bon mirouour monstre. 

Tost ou pennier le regectas, 

Quant ta laidure regardas." 
2 11. 9376-' 7 : " Plus de soixante ans as vescu 

En la region ruundaine." 
8 11. 1721-2 : " Jeunece plus ne t'excuse 
Senecte cedens intruse." 
4 11. 11070-1 : "Ou au moins, des que viellesce 

Vi venir, et atermine." 

5 Introductory Notes to Pelerinage de I' Ame, p. vii. 

6 In the third Pilgrimage, as in the first, the author has told us the date. Cf. 
11. 21-24 : — Mesmement quar en une nuit 

L'an mil ccclviii. 
Songie m'estoie pelerin 
Oil avoie fait grant Chemin. 

7 See Preface to Le PUerinage de Vie Humaine. 

8 It is not known whether the first or second recension is represented by MS. C 2 
Haigh, Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Earl of Crawford, K. T. 



The Sources of Bwnyari' } s Allegories. 11 

first recension; 9 (or 10) of the first Pilgrimage, second recension; 
43 of the second Pilgrimage ; and 26 of the third. 1 Some of the 
mss. include all three Pilgrimages, some only two, and still others 
only one. There are 73 separate and distinct mss. in all. France, 
of course, possesses more of these than England. Those in Eng- 
land are as follows : 

London, Brit. Mus., Additional 22937— V A J. 2 
London, Brit. Mus., Additional 25594 — V A. 
London, Brit. Mus., Harleian 4399 — V. 
London, Library of H. H. Gibbs, Esq. — V A J. 
London, Library of A. H. Huth, Esq. — V A J. 
Ashburnham Place, Library of Earl of Ashburnham, 

Coll. Barrois 488— V A. 

ibid. Barrois 74 — V. 
Cheltenham, Library of the late Sir Th. Phillipps, 3655 — V. 

Some time during the fifteenth century Jean Gallopes, who 
describes himself as a clerk of Angers, transposed the first and 
second of Deguileville's Pilgrimages into French prose. 3 In one 
of the mss. of Gallopes' s prose version of the Peierinage de la Vie 
Humaine it is said that the work was begun in February, 1464, 
" pour obeir a la requeste de treshaulte et excellante princesse et 
ma tres redoubtee dame Jehanne de laual, par la grace de dieu 
Royne de Jherusalem et de Sicille, &c." 4 Wright identifies this 
patroness of Jean Gallopes with Jeanne de Laval, queen of Rene 
le Bon, due d'Anjou and titular king of Naples. She was born 
November 10, 1433, became the wife of Rene in 1454, and died 
in 1498. 4 Abbe" Goujet, on the other hand, supposed her to be 

J Two mss., V and D, are not included in this classification, "because," says 
Prof. Stiirzinger, ' ' I have not had an opportunity of consulting them, the present 
owner of MS. V being unknown and access to MS. D having been refused." 

2 V = first Pilgrimage, first recension, A = second Pilgrimage, J = third Pil- 
grimage. 

3 Gallopes did not transpose the third Pilgrimage. Paulin Paris, Les Manuscrits 
Francois, Paris, 1842, v, 132, describes a MS. entitled Vie de Jesus Christ, mis en 
prose par Jehan Gallopes dit Le Galoys. This is not, as has been supposed, the 
third Pilgrimage of Deguileville, but the Meditations of Saint JSonaventure upon 
the life of Christ, cf. vn, 249. 

4 Wright, Note to Preface. 



1 2 The Sources of Bwiyan's Allegories. 

Jeanne, queen of Jerusalem and Sicily, Duchess of Anjou and 
Bar, and Countess of Provence, who died 22d May, 1382. x 

If Gallopes changed Deguileville's first Pilgrimage from verse 
to prose as late as 1464, he must have done so after having 
already transposed the second Pilgrimage, for it was in obedience 
to the command of John, Duke of Bedford and Regent of France, 
whose Chaplain Gallopes was, that the prose rendering of the 
second Pilgrimage was made. 2 It has been asserted that Gallopes's 
prose version of Deguileville's second Pilgrimage was the text 
used by the translator of The Pylgremage of the Sowle which was 
printed by Caxton in 1483. 3 This is clearly wrong, for in 
the colophon of Caxton' s text it is distinctly stated that the trans- 
lation was begun in 1413 : "Here endeth the dreme of pylgremage 
of the soule, translatid out of Frenshe in to Englyshe, with som- 
what of addicions. The yere of our Lord MCCC and thyrten, 
and endeth in the Vigyle of Seynt Bartholomew." 4 The English 
prose version printed by Caxton does not differ sufficiently from 
the original of Deguileville to justify the supposition that the trans- 
lator had any other text before him than the original French verse. 6 

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the French texts 
were frequently printed. In 1485 or '86 Mathieu Huss published 
Le pelerin de vie humaine, — Jean Gallopes's prose rendering of the 
first Pilgrimage; in 1499, the same work revised by Pierre 
Virgin. Antoine Verard published in 1499 Le Pelerinaige de 
lame, and in 1511 Le Pelerinage de I'homme. About 1500 Barthole 
et Petit brought out an edition of Le romant des trois Pelerinaiges 
which had been previously revised by the " Monk of Clairvaux." 6 

l Bibl. Franc., ix, 91. 

2 John, Duke of Bedford, became Eegent of France in 1422 and died in 1435.— 
Die. Nat. Biog., xxix, 429. See also Wright, Lyf of the Manhode, p. ix. 

3 Blades' Caxton, 1863, n, 129 ; Die. Nat. Biog., xxxiv, 315. 

* K. I. Cust, Partial Reprint of Caxton, London, 1859, p. 81. 

5 Cf. A Catalogue of the MSS. Preserved in the Library of the Univ. of Cambridge, 
1858, in, 565, MS. KK. I, 7. 

6 It is not known who was the "Monk of Clairvaux." Abbe" Goujet— Bibl. 
Franc., ix, 74 — identifies him with the Pierre Virgin who revised the edition 
published by Mathieu Huss in 1499. But, as Wright ( pp. vii-viii) observes, this 
conjecture must certainly be wrong, since the "Monk of Clairvaux" speaks 
disparagingly of this very edition. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 13 

In 1506 Michel Le Noir published Le Pelerin de vie humaine. 1 
To these early editions should be added the edition of the three 
Pilgrimages by Prof. Stiirzinger mentioned above. 

3. English Manuscripts and Editions. 
a. The First Pilgrimage. 

The first English translation, apparently, of Deguileville's 
Pelerinage de la Vie Humaine was made by John Lydgate in 
1426 at the request of Thomas de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury. 
Two MSS. of Lydgate's poem are in the British Museum — 
Vitellius, C. xiii, and Tiberius, A. vii. Both mss. are imperfect, 
the latter being a mere fragment of some 4000 lines. 2 Fortu- 
nately the missing parts are contained in one of the John Stowe 
mss., no. 952, in the library of Lord Ashburnham. These three 
mss. furnish the text of The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man recently 
edited for the E. E. T. S. by Dr. Furnivall. 3 Lydgate's verse 
translation represents the second recension of Deguileville's first 
Pilgrimage. 

About the year 1430, just a century after the composition of 
the original work, an English prose rendering of the first Pil- 
grimage, first recension, was made. Nothing whatever is known 
of the translator except that he must have lived after the time of 
Chaucer, since Chaucer's ABC, or Prayer to the Virgin, is inserted 
in the translation. 4 This prose version is a slavish translation 
of the French original. It was edited in 1869 for the Roxburghe 
Club by William Aldis Wright from MS. Ff. 5. 30 in the Cam- 
bridge University Library. Several mss., which, though they 
have never been collated, are supposed to represent this version or 
a modernised form of it, are extant : 

1 A Spanish translation of the first Pilgrimage was published at Toulouse by 
Vincentio Mazuello in 1480, and again in 1499. Hill (p. 14 ) mentions two edi- 
tions of a Dutch version of the first Pilgrimage. 

2 Ward, Catalogue of Romances, n, 571, 578. 

3 Copious extracts from Vitellius, C. xiii are printed in the Appendix of Hill's 
book. See also " A Modern Prose Translation of . . . The Pylgrymage of 3fan," 
London, 1859 — an abstract of Hill's book by its editor, Katharine Isabella Cust. 

4 In Vitellius, C. xrn, a blank space is left for its insertion. 



14 The Sources of Banyan' s Allegories. 

1. Glasgow, Hunterian Museum, Q. 2. 25. 

2. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud No. 740. 

3. London, Sion College Library. 

4. Cambridge, St. John's College, MS. G. 21 — 
a copy in the Northern dialect. 

5. Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys Library, 
No. 2258. 1 

6. Cambridge, University Library, Ff. 5. 30. 

7. Cambridge, University Library, Ff. 6. 30 — a 
condensed and modernised seventeenth century 
copy of Laud No. 740. 

In the last MS. of this list we have the version which was first 
suggested by Wright (p. x) as the one Bunyan may have known : 
" It is not within the scope of the present Preface to discuss a 
question which has been raised, as to how far Bunyan may have 
been indebted to this allegory for the idea and even the details of 
his Pilgrim's Progress. But it is at least worthy of remark that 
in the 17th century there was copied and circulated in manuscript 
a condensed English version of Guillaume de Deguileville's first 
pilgrimage. In the University Library, Cambridge, there is a 
small volume of 242 pages, of which the class-mark is Ff. 6. 30. 
The title is 'The Pilgrime, or the Pilgrimage of Man in this 
World. Wherein y e Authour doth plainly and truly sett forth y e 
wretchedness of mans life in this World, without Grace, our sole 
Protectour. Written in y e yeare of x*. 1331.' The colophon is 
as follows : ' Written according to y e first copy. The originall 
being in St. John's Coll. in Oxford, and thither given by Will. 
Laud, Archbp of Canterbury, who had it of Will. Baspoole, who, 
before he gave to y e Archbp the originall, did copy it out. By 
which it was verbatim written by Walter Parker, 1645, and fro 
thence transcribed by G. G. 1649. And fro thence by AV. A. 
1655.' The original here referred to is the Laud MS. quoted in 
the notes, and is now in the Bodleian Library, among the Laud 

1 Mr. Alfred Rogers of the University Library, Cambridge, has kindly examined 
this MS. for me. He informs me that the volume is in folio, is a seventeenth 
century copy, and that the writing looks even more modern than that of Ff. 6. 30. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 15 

MSB., n°. 740. It is not likely that Bunyan ever saw this, or the 
Glasgow MS. in the Hunterian Museum (Q. 2. 25), or the MS. 
from which the present volume is printed, or that in the library 
of £>t. John's College, Cambridge (G. 21), but he may at some 
time have fallen in with a little volume like that described 
above." 

This seventeenth century copy contains no incidents or personifi- 
cations that are not also found in Ff. 5. 30, the text of Wright's 
edition. Since it has never been published, and since Wright's 
suggestion concerning Bunyan has been often repeated, this copy 
has been made the basis of the comparison in the following 
chapter between Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man and Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's Progress. 

Another translation of Deguileville's Pelcrinage de la Vie 
Humaine may possibly have been made by John Skelton. Among 
the several literary labors enumerated by the author in his 
Garlande of Laurell is the following : 

' ' Of my ladys grace at the contemplacyoun, 
Owt of Frenshe into Englyshe prose, 
Of Marines Lyfe the Peregrynacioun 
He did translate, enterprete, and disclose." x 

It has been suggested that perhaps this is identical with the 
Peregrinatio Humani Generis printed by Pynson in 1508. But 
according to Herbert, the Peregrinatio Humani Generis is " in 
ballad verse, or stanzas of seven Hues." It could not have been, 
therefore, the work mentioned by Skelton. 2 

b. The Second Pilgrimage. 

Of Deguileville's three Pilgrimages the second only was 
printed in English before Bunyan's time. This prose translation 
of the second Pilgrimage, published by Caxton in 1483, was 

^yce, Works of John Skelton, I, 430, 11. 1219-1222. 

2 Ames, Typograph. Antiq., 1812, n, 430; Warton, Hist, of English Poetry, 1824, 
II, 163; Wright, The Pilgrimage of the Lyf of the Manhode, 1809, p. iii ; Die. Nat. 
Biog., lh, 327. 



1 6 The Sources of Bunyarfs Allegories. 

made, as the colophon informs us, in the year 1413. 1 Two MSB. 
of this version, Egerton 615 and Additional 34,193, are in the 
library of the British Museum. The two are alike except for the 
fact that in the latter both the colophon and the epilogue of the 
translator are omitted. Other mss., presumably of the same 
version, are : 

1. Among the Cecil mss. at Hatfield. 

2. Cambridge, University Library, Kk. 1. 7. 

3. Cambridge, Caius College. 

4. Oxford, University College. 

5. Oxford, Corpus Christi College. 

Deguileville's second Pilgrimage treats of the Soul after death. 
Having been freed from the body, the Soul is immediately claimed 
by Satan. Its guardian angel remonstrates and insists that the 
matter be laid before Michael, the Provost of Heaven. The three 
proceed to the court of Michael, and here the Soul instead of 
making any defense appeals to the mercy of the judge. Justice, 
Conscience, and Reason array themselves against the poor Soul. 
Mercy flies to heaven and returns with a charter of pardon sealed 
with the Redeemer's own blood. The Soul is then permitted to 
pass into purgatory. In the fifth and last book it is led by its 
guardian angel into heaven. 

There is not the slightest resemblance between the Pilgrimage 
of the Soul and the Pilgrim's Progress. 

c. The Third Pilgrimage. 

The third Pilgrimage, it seems, has never been translated into 
English. 2 

1 This translation has been sometimes ascribed to Lydgate, but with extreme 
improbability. The question is ably discussed by J. Shick in Lydgate's Temple of 
Glas, E. E. T. S., Extra Series, No. 60, 1891, pp. ci-ciii. 

2 In the year 1358 the author imagines himself in a beautiful garden. He soon 
falls asleep. In his dream he sees an old man, who has climbed an apple tree and 
eaten some of the apples, fall to the ground. The ground opens and engulfs him. 
Carried to a high mountain the author hears Adam's guardian angel relate to the 
other angels the manner of Adam's fall. Justice, Verite, and Misericorde hold a 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 17 

Our chief concern is with the first Pilgrimage. Time and 
again it has been asserted that Bunyan got " the idea and even 
many of the details " of his allegory from Deguileville's Pilgrim- 
age of Man; that he either read it himself or heard the story 
from some one who had read it. 1 Such an assumption must rest, 
in the first instance, solely upon internal evidence. The question 
to be answered is, are the resemblances between the two allegories 
sufficiently close to establish the probability of Bunyan's indebted- 
ness to Deguileville. In the next chapter a detailed comparison 
will show how much, or how little, the later allegory owes to 
the earlier. 



conference in heaven concerning the fate of Adam. They call in Sapience. She 
says that the only way by which Adam can be redeemed is for the King himself 
to become a man and atone for Adam's sin. The Son declares his willingness to 
make a pilgrimage on earth. Gabriel is sent to announce to Mary the birth of the 
Christ-child. The author now sees a great wonder. The Virgin appears as a 
great crystal penetrated by a ray of sunlight. This ray gradually assumes the 
form of a child. On the top of a mountain Mary and Elizabeth meet. The Son, 
yet unborn, declares to John, who is also still unborn, that he has chosen him for 
his messenger. At the Son's request, Mary sings the Magnificat. After the birth 
of Jesus, Joseph explains to Nature the immaculate conception, whereupon she 
flees. Jesus is circumcised by Vieille Loy, an old wrinkled woman who carries 
the table of the law under her arm. In the flight to Egypt the Holy Family meet 
Ignorance, an old blear-eyed woman, who reproaches Jesus for trying to save his 
life. No account is given of the stay in Egypt, nor is anything said about the life 
of Christ from the twelfth to the thirtieth year. In his thirtieth year Jesus, 
accompanied by Nouvelle Loy, meets John, the Baptist, and Vieille Loy on the 
banks of the Jordan. Vieille Loy surrenders to Nouvelle Loy her tablets and 
circumcision knife. Jesus is then baptized by John. From this on the allegorical 
figures disappear, and the gospel narrative is closely followed. 

1 In addition to the opinions of Hill, Wright, and Kotz, which have been cited 
above, see also: "Bunyan and Plagiarism," Catholic World, 1868, vi, 535-544; 
"Bunyan and his Prototypes" in William Carew Hazlitt's Offspring of Thought 
in Solitude, London, 1884, pp. 213-220 ; Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la Langue 
et de la Litterature Francaise des Origines d 1900, Paris, 1896, n, 205-207 ; Victor 
le Clerc, Histoire Litteraire de la France au Quatorzieme Steele, Paris, 1865, n, 19 ; 
Gaston Paris, La Litterature Francaise au Moyen Age, Paris, 1888, p. 228 ; Saints- 
bury, A Short History of English Literature, London, 1898, p. 136, note, and p. 
514 ; ten Brink, History of English Literature, English Translation, 1896, n, Part 
II, 5-7 ; Announcements of E. E. T. S., p. 4. 



II. 



PILGRIMAGE OF MAN COMPARED WITH 
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 



1. The Allegory a Dream. 

The Pilgrimage of Man begins with an invitation to all, — " be 
they Kings, be they Queenes, be they rich, be they poore, be they 
strong, be they weake, be they wise, be they fooles," — to draw 
near and hearken to what the author will say. "Now vnder- 
stand the dreame y 1 I had y e other night, as I lay in y e Abbey. 
Methought I passed out of my house, where I had been a 
prisoner nine months of y e season ; & anon after me thought I 
was quickened, & stirred to vndertake a journey to y e faire city 
of New Jerusalem" (p. 1). 

The Pilgrim's Progress is also an account of the author's 
dream : "As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I 
lighted on a certain place, where was a den ; and I laid me down 
in that place to sleep : and as I slept, I dreamed a dream." ' 

2. Pilgrim meets Grace Dieu. 

Pilgrim remembers that he lacks the two essentials of every 
pilgrimage — a scrip and staff'. "And as I went weeping & 
lamenting seeking helpe I saw a Lady in my way, all faire & 
glorious : She seemed to me y e daughter of an Empero r , of a King 
or of some other great Lord. Courteous she was (methought) & 
first spake to me, asking what (with such sorrow) I went so 
seekeing. Whereat I was abashed, that so glorious a Creature 
should first designe to speake to me or cast her eye vpon me " 
(p. 2). Her name, she declares, is Grace Dieu. " I am she that 
thou shouldest chuse to be thy guide. . . . When thou shalt have 

JOffor, hi, 89. 
18 



The Sources of Bunyanfs Allegories. 19 

need of me, so shalt thou call me, & calling me I will not faile 
thee" (pp. 3-4). 

So Christian, in great distress of mind, meets with Evangelist : 
, " I looked, and saw him [Christian] open the book, and read 
therein ; and as he read, he wept and trembled ; and not being 
able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, 
1 What shall I do ? ' . . . Now I saw upon a time, when he was 
walking in the fields, that he was, as he was wont, reading in his 
book, and greatly distressed iu his mind ; and as he read, he burst 
out, as he had done before, crying, ' What shall I do to be 
saved?' I saw also that he looked this way and that way, as 
if he would run ; yet he stood still, because, as I perceived, he 
could not tell which way to go. I looked then, and saw a man 
named Evangelist coming to him, who asked, 'Wherefore dost 
thou cry ? ' " l 

3. The Water of Baptism. 

Pilgrim, warned by Grace Dieu that before the end of his 
pilgrimage he will encounter " lettings, mischeifes adversityes & 
Incumbrances " and that then he will find her aid indispensable, 
begs her to become his guide. His request is granted and he is 
thereupon conducted to her house. 2 " But one thing discomforted 
me much ; there was a deepe water 3 before it, through which I 
must passe if I would enter into y e house ; ffor ship, nor bridge, 
nor planke was there none. And then I asked Grace-Dieu why 
there was such a passage, how I might escape, whether there were 
any other passage, and what good that water should do me? 
Then she said, Art thou abashed for so little water. . . . Here 
thou ought to have no dread. . . . Here is the passage for all 
good pilgrims there is no other way or passage to Jerusalem 
except by cherubins .... if thou consider well whence thou 
comest, & thy last abode nine months thou hast much need to 
purge thee & to wash thee. . . . Wherefore if thou wilt passe, 

1 Offor, in, 89-90. 

2 Grace Dieu's house had been "masoned thirteene hundred yeares & thirty 
before that time." 
3 In the margin of the ms. is written the word " Baptisme." 



20 The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 

say it anon, & I will doe thee helpe by mine Officiall. He is 
y e keeper of this Sacrament, & the Minister of this passage, he 
shall helpe thee to passe, & shall passe thee by bathing & washing ; 
& he shall put a Crosse upon thy forehead & upon thy breast, 
& anoint thee as a champion that thou mayest overcome all 
mischeife & not dread thine enemy es, but conquer Jerusalem. 
Now I pray thee answer amen w ch is thine Intent? And I said 
right humbly, It is my desire that y e Officiall come vnto me. 
Then came at her Comandment y e officiall vnto me, & he tooke 
me by y e hands, & he put me into the water, there he washed me 
& bathed me, then he led me into the house of Grace-Dieu " 
(pp. 5-7). 

The house of Grace Dieu Hill believes to be the prototype of 
the Interpreter's House. No reason is given in support of such 
a supposition. He simply asserts (pp. 21—22) "this is the church 
of Christ, for the expounding of the Scriptures; it is, in fact, 
the Interpreter's house of Bunyan." Bunyan, however, typifies 
the church, not by the Interpreter's House, but by the Palace 
Beautiful. 

The Water of Baptism lying before the entrance of Grace 
Dieu's house has, according to Hill (p. 22), been " transformed by 
Bunyan (agreeably to his views) into the Slough of Despond, 
the duration of which he gives 'as above these sixteen hundred 
years' — the age of the Christian church in his time." But 
there is not the remotest connection between the rite of baptism 
and the Slough of Despond. " It is," says Bunyan, " the descent 
whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin, doth 
continually run, and therefore it is called the Slough of Despond : 
for still, as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there 
ariseth in his soul many fears and doubts, and discouraging 
apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this 
place." ! 

Evidently there is no connection between the idea symbolized 
by the Slough of Despond and that symbolized by the Water 
before Grace Dieu's house. Is there any resemblance between 
the symbols themselves ? Bunyan declares that this Slough had 

1 Offor, m, 92. 



TJie Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 21 

caused the king's laborers much trouble " for above these sixteen 
hundred years." Deguileville, in describing the house of Grace 
Dieu, says that it had been " masoned thirteene hundred yeares 
& thirty before that time." An " official " is sent by Grace Dieu 
to help Pilgrim through this water. Bunyau, describing Chris- 
tian's escape from the Slough, says : " But I beheld in my dream, 
that a man came to him, whose name was Help. . . . Then said 
he, Give me thy hand ; so he gave him his hand, and he drew him 
out, and set him upon sound ground, and bid him go on his 
way." 1 These are the only features which the two descriptions 
have in common. 

Before passing on, however, let us examine some further evi- 
dence, discovered by Hill and seemingly approved by Kotz, of 
Bunyan's indebtedness at this point to Deguileville. The italics are 
Hill's. " Pilgrim is alarmed," declares Hill (p. 22), " at finding 
himself stopped by a stream without bridge or ferry, and desponds. 

' Dolent en fu et fort pleuroie.' " 

Then, in a foot-note to the word desponds, he adds, " Christian 
also desponds at the sight of the lions, and thought of going back, 
till Watchful, the porter, cried unto him, saying, ' Is thy strength 
so small ? Fear not the lions, for they are chained. ' " Kotz 
(p. 11) follows Hill without a word of dissent : " In ahnlicher weise 
verzagt audi Christian beim anblick der lowen vor dem Palace 
Beautiful, nur auf Watchful' s zuspruch bleibt er fest. . . . Wie 
Gracedieu Pilgrim wegen seines kleinmutes vorwiirfe macht, so 
fragt Watchful zurnend Christian : ' Is thy strength so small.' " 
The cause of Pilgrim's fear is wholly different from that of 
Christian's. Pilgrim is filled with dread because he must pass 
through a stream of water — symbolic of the rite of baptism ; 
Christian, because he must pass by two lions — symbolic of civil' 
and ecclesiastical persecution. The sole point in common between 
the two allegories is the fact that both Pilgrim and Christian 
experience fear. To cite this as an instance of borrowing on 

1 Offor, in, 92. 



22 The Sources of Bv/nyan's Allegories. 

Bunyan's part weakens, rather than strengthens, the theory of his 
indebtedness to Deguileville. 



4. Pilgrim reaches the House of Grace Dieu. 

Having crossed the Water of Baptism, Pilgrim is admitted to 
the house of Grace Dieu. Immediately upon entering he sees in 
the middle of the house the sign of the letter Tau, which was 
painted with the blood of the Lamb, and standing near it a vicar 
of Aaron or of Moses, clothed iu a robe of linen, having his head 
horned and in his hand a rod crooked at the end. On the fore- 
heads of his servants this vicar sets the letter Tau with which he 
blesses them, promising them mercy. In obedience to Grace 
Dieu's request he marks the forehead of the Pilgrim and blesses 
him. Dame Reason then in a long discourse explains to this 
vicar the meaning of the horned head, and of the staff crooked at 
the end : " Thou art horned without but be thou meeke & mercyall 
within, what worke soever thou goe about, for though thy rod be 
sharpe at y e one end, yet it is bowing at y e other end. Now then 
it betokens there should be in Thee meekeness to chastise with 
mercy " (p. 9). While Moses is listening to "y e sermon y* Dame 
Reason made him," " a great Company of folke came, & entreated 
Moses that some service in his house he would graunt them. 
Then Moses tooke a paire of sheares, & clipped their crownes, & 
said this shall be your part & your heritage, & if you be wise, 
let it be to you acceptable" (p. 12). These are preached to by 
Dame Reason and are told why they have shaven crowns. "When 
Reason had thus preached vnto his shorne, then Moses gave gladly 
to those that asked places in his house. Some he gave great 
wors p . others he made chamberers. Some Sergeants to arrest & 
put enemyes out of y e bodyes ; some to serve at the great board 
where they did eate. To each one he gave some place in proper 
power or as Coadjutors ; but to all he gave leave to be Readers 
in his house, & to preach Gods law" (pp. 13-14). 

After another sermon by " Lady Reason the wise," " Moses 
would to dinner, & his meat was ready all otherwise then it was 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 23 

wont to be. ffor there was onely bread & wine, which was not 
according to his desire ; ffor he would have flesh to eate, & blood 
to drinke, thereby to deface the old Law. To helpe him he 
called G - D. & she came to him forthwith ; & then behold I 
saw a great wonder to which there is none like. The bread he 
turned into flesh, & the wine into blood, as G — D had ordained 
it, & it seemed vnto me to be the body & blood of the white 
lambe. And then courteously he called his new oiflciall to dine 
with him, & taught him his cunning, giving him commission to 
make such conversion. And then he gave to eat to all his new 
shorne, without danger, & he ate with them, & drunke with them, 
& they rejoyced together" (p. 17). 

In perfect amazement at this strange "mutation," Pilgrim turns 
to Dame Reason for an explanation. But in vain. " Herein," 
she declares, " I lack vnderstanding, & my witts are altogether 
blind." As he thus stands in great perplexity, he sees one 
approaching who had not " the cheere of gladship .... but right 
wroth she seemed .... with her thumbes vnder her girdle and 
her eyne glowing like y e eyne of a kite" (p. 18). This is Dame 
Nature, who, in great wrath because of the wonderful change 
wrought in the bread and wine, comes to chide Grace Dieu for 
having thus encroached upon her rights. Dame Nature declares 
that she is mistress of all that pertains to the earth, Grace Dieu 
of all that pertains to the sky. Too much already has she suffered 
from the encroachments of Grace Dieu. "Also I forgett not that 
you put fire into my green-bush (& yet it consumed not) without 
my will or privity. I remember also the dry Rods of Moses & 
Aaron ; y e one ye made become an adder, & y e other ye made 
waxe green againe, & to beare leaves & flowers & fruit. Also ye 
turned my water into wine at y e wedding, I remember very well. 
Neither can I forgett the Virgin's conceiving and childing with- 
out the helpe of a man " (p. 20). Incensed by the angry 
reproaches of Dame Nature, Grace Dieu replies : "And I would 
answer you right fowle & beat you well, were it not for mine 
owne worship, & for the distempered wrath I see in you" (p. 21). 
What, she asks, would become of Nature, if she, the mistress 
of the Sun, should withhold it from the earth for an hundred 



24 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

winters? Nature is only her hand-maid, and it ill becomes her 
to find fault with her mistress. "When G - D. had thus spoken 
to Nature .... she kneeled downe at her feet meekely, & said, 
Lady I pray that on me you have mercy, argue no more against 
me; for plainly I see my default, & am sorry that ever so feircely 
I stirred against you " (p. 25). 

Pilgrim sees two others approaching whose names, he after- 
wards learns, are Penitence and Charity. In one hand Penitence 
holds a mallet, in the other a good rod, green and small, and in 
her mouth she carries a "besome." Of the mallet she says, 
" right as a child makes softnes in a hard apple by beating & 
juyce by smiting: right so with my mallet 1 I cause teares and 
sighs from sinners; & make them cry alas !" (p. 27). With the 
" besome " she cleanses and sweeps out old sins from the house 
of which she is the " Chaniberer." This house has six gates. 
Through five of these — the gates of smelling, of tasting, of feel- 
ing, of hearing, and of seeing — filth enters. The sixth gate is 
the mouth through which this filth by means of her " besome " is 
purged. With the rod 2 she corrects evil-doers, " though they be 
30 yeares old or more." 

Charity " held a Testament of great charter wherein was written 
many letters." This contains the " Jewell of Peace," 3 the legacy 
of Jesus Christ, without which no one may safely partake of the 
" Relief" — the bread and wine which Moses had changed into 
flesh and blood. 

This " Relief," of which Penitence is " Porter and parter " 
and Charity "Aumner and dispenser," is the Bread of Life, the 
bread upon which the angels are fed, and with which pilgrims 
bound for Jerusalem should fill their scrips. " Bread & wine 

x The mallet is called Contrition (p. 28). 

2 The name of the rod is Satisfaction ; "that is to say, to suffer as much sorrow 
without grutehing, as was thy delight in sinning " (p. 31). 

3 In the present MS. no mention is made of a cross, but in both Wright's text 
(pp. 38-39) and Lydgate's verse translation (Part I, p. 129) 
Charity describes the form of this ' ' Jewell of Peace ' ' as that of 
a cross with the letters p, a, x in the several corners. With this 

mention of a cross Hill ( p. 24) compares the account of the cross , 

at which Christian loses his burden. ' 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 25 

though I call it," says Grace Dieu to Pilgrim, " I advise thee & 
charge thee that flesh & blood it be vnderstood of thee & sted- 
fastly beleeved of thee. . . . Bread & wine it may seeme thee ; 
for the foure witts they be deceived out, & foolish holden, they 
can nothing, doted they be, let them lye. But the witt of y e 
Hearing onely informes thee more then the Sight, Smelling, 
Touching or Tasting : for by hearing men knowes more soothly 
and perceives more clearely " (p. 37). Charity brought this won- 
derful bread from heaven ; it was sown, harvested in barns, 
threshed and ground, but when Charity attempted to bake it, 
" she could not mould nor turne it at her will .... she quickly 
remembred her of a mistris, y e most subtile & cunning that was 
in any towne or burrough to be found, her name was Sapience. . . . 
And Sapience moulded it, & baked it, & wisely the bread turned, 
as charity said to her" (pp. 38-39). Lady Sapience, who could 
put "all y e worlde in a boxe" and "y e sea in an eggeshell," 
moulded this bread so subtilly that " it shuld seeme little & should 
all suffice." But in so doing she angered Dame Nature who sent 
her clerk Aristotle " to argue with her and to blame her." Aris- 
totle contended that since the less could not include the greater, 
Dame Sapience, in making a small portion of this bread as effica- 
cious as a large amount, had set at naught his Mistress, Dame 
Nature. Among the several examples brought forward by Sapi- 
ence to show that the less can include the greater, is the following : 
Has he ever seen Greece and Athens, Aristotle is asked. "Cer- 
taine q d he I mind me well, that they are very great, & there are 
many schollers and many students, & people of diverse crafts. 
Now say me truly (qd she) where hast thou put & kept all this 
greatnes which thou tellest me. In mind I have put all these 
things most certainly. Ha, ha, said Sapience, then thou dost con- 
clude if memory be in the head, the lesse conteines the greater; 
Two great cityes with all their students within the apple of thine 
eye" (p. 45). 

I have quoted somewhat copiously from Deguileville's account 
of the personifications found by Pilgrim at the house of Grace 
Dieu, because it is just here that Hill finds the strongest evidence 
of Bunyan's indebtedness to the earlier allegory. 



26 The Sources of Bunyo/n's Allegories. 

"Moses," says Hill (p. 22), "is succeeded by personifications of 
Reason or Prudence, and Nature, corresponding to Worldly-wise-man 

in Bunyan, who is 'obstinate* and railing. These are followed by 
Sajrience or Discretion, by Repentance or Piety, and by Charity or 
Love." Then in a foot-note he adds, "Discretion, Piety, Pru- 
dence and Charity inhabit the palace called Beautiful, and entertain 
Christian." The first assertion of Hill's is wholly misleading to 
one who has not had access to Deguileville' s text. Kotz, for 
instance, after quoting it adds (p. 1 2), " Diese vier namen [Discretion, 
Piety, Prudence, Charity] begegnen uns wortlich bei Bunyan : sie 
sind die bewohnerinnen des Palace Beautiful. Dieser umstand 
allein wiirde ziemlich geniigen um den einfluss Guilevilles auf 
Bunyan sicher zu stellen." As a matter of fact only one of these 
names is common to the two allegories — Charity; the alterna- 
tive forms — Prudence, Discretion, Piety, and Love — do not 
occur in Deguileville at all. There is little or no sug- 
gestion of the names — Discretion, Piety, Prudence — in the 
names — Sapience, Repentance, Reason, respectively. Nor is 
there the slightest resemblance between these crude personifications 
and the lovely damsels who entertain Christian at the Palace Beau- 
tiful. To assert that Dame Nature corresponds to Worldly- Wise- 
man is, to say the least, fanciful, but to assign as the sole reason 
for this belief the fact that both are " obstinate and railing " is 
simply astounding. In a foot-note to the phrase " ' obstinate' and 
railing," Hill (p. 22) tells us that " Obstinate accompanies Christian 
and Pliable over the plains, and rails at them both." Hill's 
argument, it seems, is this : Dame Nature, being " obstinate and 
railing," corresponds to Obstinate; but she also corresponds to 
Worldly-A\ r iseman, for he too is " obstinate and railing ; " hence 
Obstinate and Worldly-Wiseman must correspond to each other, — 
a conclusion, I venture to say, never before reached by any reader 
of the Pilgrim's Progress. 

Moses, as Hill believes, is the prototype of Bunyan's Mr. 
Legality, and he compares an incident in which certain pilgrims, 
eluding Charity and Repentance, go directly to Moses for some of 
the "Relief" with Christian's turning aside to visit Mr. Legality. 
Deguileville relates the incident as follows : 



The Sources of Bwny art's Allegories. 27 

" When Charity had said, & preached without gainesaying, then 
came many pilgrims that inclined to obey Charity's commandment. 
And they went & y e Jewell of peace they took ever each vpon 
his breasts & passed by Penitence without dread of Her, & vnder- 
put them to her Mallet, with her besome they were sweeped, & 
beaten with her Rods. And then the Releife they received at 
Moses hands without feare. Then I saw some Cursed, that came 
in by way refusing to come by Charity & Penitence & w tb out 
shame did receive y e Releife also, to whom Moses gave it full 
courteous without exception. But wott you what? Hearken 
good people & I will tell you. After they had thus received it, 
they were all fowle & sicke in stomach, vnsowled & hungry, because 
they had taken it vnworthily ffor they were no more sowled, then 
flying they had passed by y e doore of an Obly-maker, 1 having nothing 
to eate. But for the other it was not so with them, for they received 
& were sowled & satisfied, so that nothing in the world they 
praised in comparison of that. They became so faire, so gentle, 
& so debonier ; but methought y* other were all fowle as well 
Clarke as Lorde " (pp. 35-36). 

This incident, however, does not correspond to that in which 
Christian turns aside to visit Mr. Legality. Deguileville is trying 
to portray the condition of those who partake of the holy sacra- 
ment unworthily ; in Christian's turning out of his way to visit 
Mr. Legality, Bunyan symbolizes an entirely different idea, — the 
attempt to be justified, not through the redemption of Christ, but 
through the law. Hill's arguments at this point are very confus- 
ing. At one time he identifies the pilgrims who had eluded 
Charity and Repentance and had gone directly to Moses with 
Pliable, at another time with Christian: "But," continues Hill (p. 
24), " it happened ill for them ; for, as soon as they had left him 
[Moses] , they looked as if they had come out of a miry slough, 

' Yssys du bourbier ou dun noir sac a charbonnier ; ' 
like Pliable, ' bedaubed with dirt,' or had been ' dipped into a sack of 
charcoal.' They were black, filthy, vile, says De Guileville — enhordiz 
et encore tous familleux ; but when they were tired of this relief they 

1 Explained in the margin of the MS. as " a maker of wafer-cakes." 



28 The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 

returned trembling, and begging to accompany the other pilgrims. 
So Christian, after 'having turned out of his way, to go to Mr. 
Legality's house for help,' .... stands trembling before Evan- 
gelist." The English translations give no equivalent of the 
phrase "du bourbier," and so contain no suggestion of a miry 
slough. The present MS. describes the pilgrims as " fowle & sicke 
in stomach, vnsowled & hungry." Wright's text says (pp. 40-41) : 
" Whan thei hadden had this releef riht as thouh thei hadden be 
comen out of a riht blac colyeres sak other out of a foul dong hep 
al blac thei bicomen and salwh foul and stinkinge and elded." 
Lydgate's version reads : 

"But they retournede foul and blake, 
I mene, swych that of boldnesse 
Toke yt nat in clennesse, 
As they ouht ha done off ryht ; 
Swych wer foul & blake of syht 
Lyche to a colyers sak." 1 

Christian, it is true, after his futile attempt to visit Mr. Legality, 
" stood trembling " before Evangelist, but in none of the English 
versions of Deguileville are we told that the pilgrims " returned 
trembling and begging to accompany the other pilgrims." 

Beyond the mere suggestiveness of law contained in the word 
Hoses, there is no connection, it seems to me, between Deguile- 
ville's Moses and Bunyan's Mr. Legality. 2 Bunyan introduces 
the character, Moses, further on in the Allegory. Faithful is 
relating to Christian how, after his secret inclining towards the 
temptation of Adam the First, he was overtaken by a man who 
knocked him down three times, and who would have made an end 
of him, had not one come by who made him forbear. "That 
man," says Christian, " that overtook you was Moses. He spareth 
none, neither knoweth he how to show mercy to those that trans- 
gress his law." 3 

1 Lydgate, Part I, 11. 5122-7. 

2 Neither Mr. "World ly-Wiseman nor Mr. Legality appeal's in the first edition of 
the Pilgrim* * / Vogress. See Elliot Stock' s Facsimile Reproduction of the First Edition, 
London, 1895. 

3 Offor, in, 119. 



The Sources of Bunyarts Allegories. 29 

5. PlLGEIM RECEIVES HIS SCRIP AND BOUBDON. 

Before Pilgrim can begin his journey, he must be provided, 
Grace Dieu tells him, with a scrip and bourdon. " Then into a 
place of great beauty she led me, without tarrying. And out of a 
Hutch (which she vnlockt) she wrought me a Scrip & a Burdon " 
(p. 48). In the scrip, which is called Faith, must be carried the 
provisions necessary for the journey. The bourdon, the name of 
which is Hope, contains in one end a mirror in which can be seen 
all countries. " Therein," says Pilgrim, "did I see that faire 
city, to y e which I intended my journey & my pilgrimage " 
(p. 50). ' 

Both in Wright's text and in Lydgate's version the hutch from 

which Grace Dieu gets the scrip and bourdon is said to contain 

' many a fair jewel.' In the verse translation Grace promises to 

show Pilgrim 

' ' Thynges that wer with-Inne cloos, 
Wych I ha shewyd but to fewe. ' ' l 

Christian is forbidden by the damsels of the Palace Beautiful to 
depart " till they had shown him the rarities of that place." 2 The 
names of the scrip and bourdon, Faith and Hope, suggest Chris- 
tian's fellow-pilgrims, Faithful and Hopeful. The scrip contains 
the articles of the creed. To these Hill (p. 28, note) cites as a 
parallel Christian's roll, which he loses in the arbour. Pilgrim, 
by looking through a mirror in one end of his bourdon, sees the 
fair city to which he is journeying ; Christian, by looking through 
the perspective glass of the Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains, 
obtains a view of the Celestial City. 3 

6. PlLGEIM IS PEOVIDED BY GeACE DlEU WITH ARMOE. 

Pilgrim is greatly distressed upon learning that his bourdon is 
not " ironed," and refuses to be pacified until told by Grace Dieu 

^ydgate, Part I., 11. 6212-'13. 
2 Offor, in, 110. 
3 Offor, in, 145. 



30 TJie Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

that his bourdon " is not to smite with, nor fight with but only in 
faith to trust vnto," and that she will provide him armor with 
which to defend himself against his enemies. " Then G-D. entered 
within a Curtaine, and called me. Behold q d she yonder on high 
is armour enough to arme thee with ; there are Helmets, Haber- 
geons, Gorgets, Jacks, & Targets, and all that needs good pilgrim 
to defend him, against deadly enemyes. Now take there that thou 
wantest : I give thee leave" (p. 56). Pilgrim is then armed with 
the doublet of Patience, helmet of Temperance, gorget of Sobriety, 
gauntlets of Continence, sword of Justice, scabbard of Humility, 
girdle of Perseverance, buckle of Constancy, target of Prudence. 
Hill, alluding to this incident, says : " We now come 'to the 
prototype of the armoury contained in ' the stately palace called 
Beautiful,' which Bunyan thus describes : ' The next day they had 
him into the armoury, where they showed him all manner of furni- 
ture, which the Lord had provided for pilgrims — as sword, shield, 
helmet, breast-plate, all-prayer, and shoes that would not wear out. 
And there was here enough of this to harness out as many men, for 
the service of their Lord, as there be stars in the heaven for mul- 
titude' " (p. 28). Even Kotz (p. 13, note 3) shows some hesitancy 
in accepting Hill's suggestion : " Ich halte das nicht fur ausge- 
macht, denn alle die armories, die in dichtungen religiosen inhalts 
sehr beliebt waren, gehen auf die bibel (Ephes. 6) zuriick." Bun- 
yan's " All-prayer " and " Shoes that would not wear out " prove 
conclusively that his source is not Deguileville's allegory but St. 
Paul's letter to the Ephesians. 

7. Pilgrim begs Grace Dieu for an Attendant. 

Pilgrim finds the armor so burdensome that he resolves to take 
it off — as David once did. At his request an attendant is provided 
to carry the armor for him. The attendant, whose name is 
Memory, has her eyes set in the back of her head. She " per- 
ceiveth nothing of y e time to come," says Grace Dieu to Pilgrim, 
" but she can tell thee all that is past . . . Memory shall attend 
thee with thine armour, y t in time of need thou mayst arme & 
defend thee, against thine enemyes " (pp. 73-74). 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 31 

Lydgate's version shows considerable variation at this point 
from the texts of the first recension. Upon Pilgrim's refusal to 
wear the armor, Grace Dieu promises to give him the stones which 
David used against Goliath and which she has long kept for play- 
ing with her maidens the French game of Toss-Ball. 1 After 
receiving the stones, Pilgrim asks for a cart to carry his armor. 
Bidden to look behind him, he does so and sees the wench Mem- 
ory, the description of whom accords with that in the first recen- 
sion. 2 Both in Wright's text and in the present MS. mention is 
made of David, but none of the stones with which he slew Goliath. 

Hill (p. 30) cites as another instance of Bunyan's indebtedness 
the fact that among the rarities of the Palace Beautiful shown to 
Christian we find included " the sling and stone with which David 
slew Goliath of Gath." But in such an enumeration as Bunyan 
here makes, nothing could be more natural than that he should 
have included " the stone and sling of David." The whole passage 
reads : " They also showed some of the engines with which some 
of his servants had done wonderful things. They showed him 
Moses' rod ; the hammer and nail with which Jael slew Sisera ; 
the pitchers, trumpets, and lamps too, with which Gideon 3 put 
to flight the armies of Midian. Then they showed him the ox's 
goad wherewith Shamgar slew six hundred men. They showed 
him, also, the jaw-bone with which Samson did such mighty feats. 
They showed him, moreover, the sling and stone with which David 
slew Goliath of Gath." 4 Surely nothing could be more absurd 
than to maintain that Deguileville's mention of the sling and stones 
of David as part of the armor furnished Pilgrim by Grace Dieu 
— and that too in the very texts which Bunyan is least likely to 
have seen — must have suggested to Bunyan the inclusion of the 
sling and stones of David in such an enumeration as the above. 

Bunyan, unlike Deguileville, sends forth his pilgrim fully 
armed. The damsels of the Palace Beautiful, before permitting 

1 These stones, five in number, are: (1) Memory of Christ's Death for Man- 
kind, (2) Kemembrance of Christ's mother Mary, (3) Memory of the everlasting 
bliss of Heaven, (4) Memory of the Pains of Hell, (5) Holy Writ. 

2 Lydgate, Part I, pp. 234ff., Part II, p. 242. 

3 Offer misprints "Gibeon." 

*Offor, m, 110. 



32 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

Christian to resume his journey, had him again into the armoury, 
where "they harnessed him from head to foot with what was of 
proof, lest, perhaps, he should meet with assaults in the way." 1 
The Pilgrim's Progress contains no personification of memory, 
but in the Holy War we are told that Capt. Experience had " for 
his coronet one Mr. Memory." 2 



8. Pilgrim goes to Moses foe some of the "Relief." 

Just as Pilgrim is on the point of leaving Grace Dieu's house, 
he is bidden by her to go to Moses for some of the " Relief." 
" Then to Moses I went & asked Releife, such as he graunted 
vnto Pilgrims, all which he gave me willingly, which I put into 

my scrip ; Then I turned me again to G. D , praying and 

humbly beseeching her, y* she would not be farre from me at my 
need, nor leave me comfortles " (p. 74). In reply Grace says 
that, though she is to be invisible to his bodily eyes, she will not 
depart from him so long as he may keep the right way and prove 
himself valiant. 3 

Bunyan, in describing Christian's departure from the Palace 
Beautiful, says : " Then he began to go forward ; but Discretion, 
Piety, Charity, and Prudence, would accompany him down to the 
foot of the hill. . . . Then I saw in my dream that these good com- 
panions, when Christian was gone to the bottom of the hill, gave 
him a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and a cluster of raisins ; and 
then he went on his way." i 

The " relief" given to Pilgrim is, of course, the holy sacrament. 
The bread, wine, and raisins given to Christian have no such spe- 
cific meaning but are symbolic, apparently, of the general notion 
of help or assistance. 



1 Offor, in, 111. 
2 Offor, in, 318. 

3 Part I. of Deguileville's allegory ends at this point. Part II. begins : " After 
in sleeping other wonders I saw, w cb I will tell you as I behight" (pp. 76-77). 
Banyan, also, abruptly breaks off and then resumes his story, but at a much later 
point in the allegory : " So I awoke from my dream. And I slept, and dreamed 
again." Offor, m, 145-'6. 

4 Offor, m, 111. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 33 



9. Pilgrim encounters Rude Entendement. 

Pilgrim's first adventure after leaving Grace Dieu's house is his 
meeting with Rude Entendement. " And as I went thus alone 
thinking, on the sudden I met with a great churle, ill shapen, 
beatle-browed & fronted. He bare vpon his neck a staife of a 
Crab-tree & seemed to me to be a full cruel master-man & a way- 
waiter. Then he said me (with a fowle & terrible voyce) whence 
conies & whither goes this Pilgrim : he thinkes he is full well & 
quaintly armed, but anon I will surely beate him with my staife. 
When this I heard him speake, I became wondrous sore abashed 
& feared in my heart : for I thought he woidd runne vpon me 
without abiding, although courteously I sjmke him & meekely. 
S r I desire ye that ye will not annoy me, nor lett me in my voy- 
age, for I am a Pilgrim, & little letting would greive me greatly. 
Certaine q d he the Incombrance comes of thine owne seeking ; 
whence comest thou y* thou darest breake the law, y 1, y e king hath 
ordained ? A while agoe the king ordained that none should beare 
Scrip or Burdon in his Country, & thou hast vndertaken to beare 
them both. what art thou ? & whence comest thou, that darest 
vndertake this matter? Evill thou come, & evill thou goe, & 
evill hither hast thou brought them. Never day in thy life didst 
thou so great folly. When these words I heard, more sad & feared 
I was, & sore forethought I had not armed me ; bnt then too late 
it was & what to do I wist not ; stirre I durst not, plead mine 
owne cause I neither could nor durst, because I was not armed " 
(pp. 77-78). 

The incident at once recalls Christian's first adventure after 
leaving the Palace Beautiful : " But now, in this Valley of Humili- 
ation, poor Christian was hard put to it ; for he had gone but a 
little way, before he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to 
meet him ; his name is Apollyon. Then did Christian begin to 
be afraid, and to cast in his mind whether to go back or to stand 
his ground. But he considered again that he had no armour for 
his back ; and, therefore, thought that to turn the back to him 
might give him the greater advantage, with ease to pierce him with 



34 The Sources of JBunyan's Allegories. 

his darts So lie went on, and Apollyon met him. Now 

the monster was hideous to behold ; he was clothed with scales, 
like a fish (and they are his pride), he had wings like a dragon, 
feet like a bear, and out of his belly came fire and smoke, and his 
mouth was as the mouth of a lion. 1 When he was come up to 
Christian, he beheld him with a disdainful countenance, and thus 
began to question with him. 

Apol. Whence come you ? and whither are you bound ? 

Chr. I am come from the City of Destruction, which is the 
place of all evil, and am going to the City of Zion. 

Apol. By this I perceive thou art one of my subjects, for all 
that country is mine, and I am the prince and god of it. How is 
it, then, that thou hast run away from thy king ? Were it not 
that I hope thou mayest do me more service, I would strike thee 
now, at one blow, to the ground." 2 

Christian engages in a fearful combat with Apollyon, nor does 
he receive any assistance until he has put his enemy to flight. 
" Then there came to him a hand, with some of the leaves of the 
tree of life, the which Christian took, and applied to the wounds that 
he had received in the battle, and was healed immediately." 3 In 
Deguileville's allegory no combat takes place. Pilgrim is deliv- 
ered from Rude Entendement by the happy arrival of Dame 
Reason, with a letter from Grace Dieu authorizing her to com- 
mand this churl — who is described as "a way-spy er, & a waiter 
for pilgrims, to bereave them of Scrip & Burdon beguiling way- 
faring men with false and lying words " — to cease from his moles- 
tations of pilgrims. 

There is, undoubtedly, some resemblance between these two 
incidents, and yet the ideas symbolized are not the same. Apol- 
lyon, of course, is Satan, and his attack upon Christian represents 
the wiles of the evil one to ensnare those who abandon his service 
for the service of Christ. It has often been pointed out that under 
the imagery of Christian's terrible fight with Apollyon Bunyan is 
recording the peculiar temptations which had beset him and which, 

J See Revelations, xin, 2 ; ix, 11. 
2 Offor, m, 111. 
» Offor, in, 114. 



The Sources of Buny art's Allegories. 35 

he says, lasted about a year. 1 By Rude Enteudemeut, Deguile- 
ville endeavors to represent those who misinterpret the Scriptures..* 
The churl defends his conduct towards pilgrims on the ground 
that the Scriptures forbid any man to bear scrip and staff, 2 to 
which Dame Reason in the verse translation replies : 

" But to-forn he sholde deye, 
That precept he gan modefye 



Eadeth luk the gospeler." 3 
where the reference is clearly to Luke, xxii, 35—36. 

10. Pilgrim comes to the Parting of the Ways. 

After the encounter with Rude Entendement a long conver- 
sation between Pilgrim and Dame Reason ensues, in which he is 
told that his inability to bear the armor was on account of his 
greatest enemy, who, he finally learns, is his own body. 4 Upon 
receiving Dame Reason's promise to be within hearing in case he 
needs her help, Pilgrim resumes his journey. 

" Thus alway I w r ent in great thinking & studying, when pre- 
sently I saw my way part, & forked in two, & between them I 
saw a great hedge high, thicke & wonderfull ; all bepricked with 
bushes and bryars & thornes intermedled throughout. On y e left 
hand there sate & leaned her on a stone a nice gentlewoman, that 
sett one hand vnder her side, & in her other hand she played her 
with her gloves, fitting them, & turning them about her fingers, & 
by her countenance she seemed to be of little care, for she nothing 
regarded spinning nor labour. On y e other way sate a man which 
seemed to me to be of little worth ; for his cloaths were all old 
tattered & torne ; a wrinkled visage, bald head, & his eyne were 
sunke & dimme, much of poverty & wretchedness he had I 

1 See Grace Abounding, §§ 171-81. 

2 Luke, x, 1-4 ; Matt, x, 10. 

3 Part ii, p. 296, 11. 10815-6, 10823. 

4 In Wright's text (p. 94) Pilgrim's spirit is separated from his body, and for a 
short while he experiences the delights of a purely spiritual existence. In Lyd- 
gate's version (Part n, pp. 248-282) Grace Dieu, and not Dame Reason, disem- 
bodies his soul, and the incident takes place before he leaves her house. 



3(3 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

thought ; and but a foole I wist him by his trade, & by his doiug ; 
for a matt-maker he was, & y l which seemed to me strange was, 
that he made & arrayed in one houre, in another he destroyed, & 
all vndid, which was inethought little praiseworthy " (p. 104). 

The name of the mat-maker is Labor or Occupation. In reply 
to Pilgrim's inquiry as to which of the two ways he should take 
in order to reach the City of Jerusalem, he urges him to take the 
right hand way. Pilgrim's body, however, is strongly opposed to 
following the way of Occupation and insists upon his speaking 
with the " damosell " about the other way. Her name is Idle- 
ship. She is one of the daughters of Sloth, and delights in comb- 
ing and curling her hair, in beholding her face in a mirror, in sit- 
ting on easy seats. Pilgrim decides to follow the path of Idleness. 

The representation of the course of human life under the imagery 
of a forked road is very old. Xenophon so pictures the choice of 
Hercules in the Memorabilia ; x Pythagoras uses the letter " y " 
(7) to symbolize the course of man's life ; 2 the Bible speaks of 
the broad and the strait way ; the ' parting of the ways ' occurs in 
Stephen Hawes' Pastime of Pleasure and in Cartheny's Voyage of 
the Wandering Kniglit. 

While the idea of a forked way is not found in the Pilgrim's 
Progress, there are two passages which, being descriptive of 
Christian's wandering from the right road, show some resem- 
blance to Pilgrim's choice of the path of Idleness. The first of 
these relates how Christian and Hopeful were misled into By-path 
Meadow : " Now, a little before them, there was on the left hand 
of the road a meadow, and a stile to go over into it; and that 
meadow is called By-path Meadow. Then said Christian to his 
fellow, If this meadow lieth along by our way-side, let us go 
over into it. Then he went to the stile to see, and behold, a path 
lay along by the way, on the other side of the fence. It is accord- 
ing to my wish, said Christian. Here is the easiest going ; come, 
good Hopeful, and let us go over." Here they are captured the 
next morning by Giant Despair and thrown into Doubting Castle. 3 

1 Book n, Chapter 1. 

2 Hill, Appendix, p. xxx, note. 

3 Offor, m, 138-139. 



The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 37 

The second passage, which describes how Christian and Hope- 
ful were led astray by Flatterer, shows more likeness to Deguile- 
ville : " They went then till they came at a place where they saw 
a way put itself into their way, and seemed withal to lie as straight 
as the way which they should go ; and here they knew not which 
of the two to take, for both seemed straight before them ; there- 
fore, here they stood still to consider. And as they were thinking 
about the way, behold a man, black of flesh, but covered with a 
very light robe, came to them, and asked them why they stood 
there. They answered, they were going to the Celestial City, but 
knew not which of these ways to take. Follow me, said the man, 
it is thither that I am going. So they followed him in the way 
that but now came into the road, which by degrees turned, and 
turned them so from the city that they desired to go to, that, in 
little time, their faces were turned away from it ; yet they 
followed him." 1 

Mention might also be made of the fact that at the foot of the 
Hill Difficulty there were, in addition to the narrow way leading 
straight over the hill, two other ways, called Danger and Destruc- 
tion, one of which turned to the right, the other to the left. 2 

11. Pilgrim is entangled in the Coeds of Sloth. 

Between the two paths lies the hedge of Penitence, on the oppo- 
site side of which Pilgrim sees Dame Reason and Grace Dieu. 
He is advised by them to pass through the hedge quickly, before 
it grows " too thicke or too pricky." " As I went musing busily 
seeking a hole in y e hedge, there was set in my way strings of 
cord, which I perceived not, wherewith I found myself suddenly 
arrested, by which I was sore abashed and greived at y e heart" 
(p. 113). ' 

Christian and Hopeful, after being misled by Flatterer, have a 
somewhat similar experience : " But by and by, before they were 
aware, he led them both within the compass of a net, in which 
they were both so entangled, that they knew not what to do. . . . 

^ffor, in, 150-151. 
2 Offor, m, 104. 



38 The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 

At last they espied a Shining One coming towards them, with a 
whip of small cord in his hand. ... So he rent the net, and let 
the men out. . . . Then I saw in my dream, that he commanded 
them to lie down ; which, when they did, he chastised them sore, 
to teach them the good way wherein they should walk." 1 

The punishment inflicted by the Shining One upon Christian 
and Hopeful comes much nearer being a parallel to the hedge of 
Penitence than does the stile leading into By-path Meadow. 
Indeed, I fail to see any connection whatever between the hedge 
and the stile, which Hill (Appendix, p. xxviii) would have us 
believe are identical. 

12. Pilgrim meets Sloth. 

Pilgrim now encounters several ' vile old hags,' — fantastic crea- 
tures utterly devoid of any humanlikeness. The first of these is 
she who had entangled him in her cords. By her side she bears 
a butcher's axe, about her ueck is bound a " fardle of cords." 
Her name is Sloth ; 2 the axe is called " Annoy of Life ; " the 
cords, Negligence, Ease, Desperation. Pilgrim begs that he be 
allowed to pass. " Then she drew her Axe from vnder her girdle, 
and smote me so great a blow, that downe to the earth she over- 
threw me, which made me cry Alas & woe is me that I had not 
mine Armour done vpon me ! good in that season had it been, 
ffor had I not had in my scrip of the ointment (never made by 
deadly man) which G — D. put therein, wherewith I anointed me 
quickly, y° stroke had been to me my fine" (p. 119). 

Sloth also threatens to bind him with the Hangman's cord. 3 
" When I heard these menacings I was sore troubled, & my heart 
trembled, and then I saw the writing on my Burdon, which some- 
thing gladded me, & my heart thereto inclined, & I griped my 
Burdon with both my hands, & thereto so much leaned, that by little 
& little I recovered my feet againe, & would have come towards 

1 Offor, in, 151. 

2 Sloth is the mother of Idleness, — the damsel who persuaded Pilgrim to follow 
her path. 

3 This is the cord called Desperation ; it is the cord with which Judas hanged 
himself. 



The Sources of Bimyan's Allegories. 39 

the hedge ; but the Old was neither slow nor sleepy, but followed 
me with her Axe. . . . And anon she threatened me, that if I 
drew me never so little to the hedge-ward, with her cords & with 
her Axe she would do me downe dead" (pp. 119-120). 

Several of these names are found in the Pilgrim's Pi-ogress. 
Sloth is one of the three whom Christian finds fast asleep and 
vainly tries to waken. 1 Ease is the name of a " delicate plain " 
through which Christian and Hopeful pass ; 2 Giant Despair — all 
the world knows. 

13. Pilgrim meets Pride riding upon the neck of 
Flattery. 

After escaping Sloth Pilgrim continues to wander alongside the 
hedge, being afraid to pass to the opposite side. " As I went me 
all along hither & thither . . . vpon the pendance of a hidious hill, 
neare to a valley fovvle, deepe, & darke, 3 two Olds more I saw 
coming towards me, most fearefull & wonderfull to looke vpon ; 
the one riding vpon the others necke. She that was borne was so 
big & so swolue, that her bignes passed measure ; for her grcatnes 
seemed to me not to be the worke of nature : vpon her necke she 
bare a wicked staffe, & on her forehead she had a home, by which 
she seemed to me to be right terrible. In one hand she held a 
home, <fe by a baldricke she bore a great paire of bellowes. She 
was arrayed with a white mantle, & a paire of spurres with long 
rowells she had on her heeles, & it seemed to me that she was 
mistris of y e other : for she made her goe where she would, & doe 
what she list. And she held her a mirrour, & therein she looked 
her visage & her countenance" (pp. 120-121). 

This is Pride, the daughter of Lucifer, astride the back of 
Flattery. The horn, with which she wounds all — priest or clerk 
not excepted — is named Cruel. The bellows, called Vain-Glory, 
"are made to blow & quicken y e coales of evill life." Her 

x Offor, in, 103, 192. 
' Ibid. p. 136. 

3 In the Pilgrim 1 s Progress two valleys are mentioned: the Valley of Humili- 
ation and the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 



40 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

unnatural size she thus explains : " by these bellowes can I draw 
<X: gather wind againe, for when any doe goe blowing or whistling 
me in mine ease, saying me that I am fairc, that I am noble, y l I 
am courteous, mighty, wise, & worthy ; then that wind I draw 
vnto myselfc, & in my wombe I make it place ; that is the cause 
I am become so great as thou seest, that make me heave vp my 
taile as a peacocke, & to them that sees nothing, seeme glorious " 
(p. 130). The horn, which she carries in her hand, is called 
Vaunting, Lying, or Boasting, and serves as a vent through which 
she blow r s out the wind and vapors of her swollen womb. The two 
spurs are called Disobedience and Rebellion ; the staff, Obstinacy — 
the same that Rude Entendemeut bore ; the mantle, Hypocrisy. 

She upon whose back Pride is borne replies in answer to Pil- 
grim's questions : " fflattering is my right name, Treasons right 
cosen, eldest daughter to ffalsehood, & a nurse to Iniquity, ffrom 
my breaste vices draw their nourishment. . . I am to pride an 
vndersetter, & o susteiuer in speciall, her I bcare vpon my neck & 
support, & were it not for me, fall she would anon" (p. 138). 

Most of these names occur in Bunyan's two allegories, some 
more than once. Pride of Life is one of the daughters of Adam 
the First 1 ; among the friends to disown Faithful after his setting 
out on a pilgrimage is one named Pride, 2 while in the Holy War 
Mr. Pride is numbered among the Diabolonians. 3 Obstinate tries in 
vain to induce Christian to return home. 4 Formalist and Hypoc- 
risy, who are from the land of Vain-glory, take the paths of Danger 
and Destruction and are lost 5 ; Lord Desire of Vain-glory, a noble- 
man, lives in the town of Vanity. 6 Capt. Gruel is an officer in the 
Army of Diabolus 7 ; Mr. Cruelty and Mr. Liar are two of the 
jurvmen chosen to try Faithful. 8 Capt. Boasting is an officer in 
the Diabolonian army. 9 Flatterer induces Christian and Hopeful 
to leave the right way Iu ; Mr. Flatter is the father of Mr. False- 



peace. 11 






'Offor, in, 118. 


5 Ibid. p. 103. 


8 Ibid. p. 292. 


2 Ibid. p. 119. 


8 Ibid. p. 130. 


10 Ibid. pp. 145, 151 


•• Ibid. p. 314. 


7 Ibid. p. 345. 


11 Ibid. p. 313. 


*Jbid. p. 90. 


*Ibid. p. 131. 





The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 41 



14. Pilgrim meets Envy with Treason and Detraction 
astride her back. 

While talking with Flattery Pilgrim sees another hag, old and 
hideous, approaching. " She went vpon y e ground like a dragon, 
creeping on all foure, & wott it well, she was so leane & so dry, 
that she vpon her had neither flesh nor blood, all her joynts & her 
sinewes seemed to me vnhid. Vpon her backe there sate two other 
hags that were as ghastly as the first, or more dreadfull and horrible. 
The one was masked with a false visage, y l no man rightly might 
know her, and a dagger she concealed vnder her lap. The other 
Old held a speare all pricked full of mens eares, y e one end to 
me-ward extended, the other end to herselfe-ward, gnawing on 
a bone all bloody at y e one end, & y e other end imped with iron, 
to hooke poor wayfaring men & pilgrims ; & y e old shrew made 
her so feirce, y e evill passion came oft vpon her, thereby she 
seemed to me more feirce & cruell" (pp. 139-140). 

These three hags, the one with the other two astride her back, 
are Envy, the daughter of Pride and Satan, and her two daughters 
Treason and Detraction. The threats and reproaches of Detraction 
recall the speech with which Apollyon accosted Christian. " How 
darest thou be so hardy qd she to bring into our Country that staffe 
in thine hand, and that scripp about thy necke ; for I tell thee 
truly, I hate both them, and them that beares them, ffor Albeit 
faire semblance I make (as my sister doth) to mens faces, yet 
when time serves, I will breake vpon them, & wound & bite them 
behind, so that thereof they shall have great smart. This I will 
doe, & this I must doe, because thou bearest a staffe ; for my 
mother envy hateth thy staffe, thou & thy father. Therefore of 
me soone shalt thou have an evill death" (p. 147). 

The speare which Detraction bears is her own tongue, and the 
ears, pricked upon this spear, are those of her hearers who please 
themselves with the evil of her mouth. Upon these ears feeds 
her mother Envy. 

Pilgrim is set upon by all three. Detraction smites him with 
her spear, Treason pricks him with her knife, while Envy beats 



42 The Sources of Bu/nyan's Allegories. 

him sorely enough, crying, " Yeild thee wretch, ycild thee : for 
escape thou mayst not" (p. 150). 

Of these names only one is found in either the Pilgrim's Progress 
or the Holy War. The three witnesses who testify against Faith- 
ful in the town of Vanity are Envy, Pickthank, and Superstition. 1 
Some of the " Bloodmen " captured by Prince Immanuel's forces 
were from the town of Malice in the county of Envy. 2 



15. Pilgrim meets Wrath. 

Pilgrim's dismay is increased by the coming of still "another 
Hag, foule & ill-favoured to looke vpon, who cryed out with an 
hideous noise, hold him, hold him, & let him not escape till I 
come, but bereave him of his Burdon, vnto which he trusteth " 
(pp. 150-151). 

This " Old One " has, hanging at her side, " a sharp & cutting 
si the " ; in her hands she carries two great flint stones, and in 
her mouth she holds a saw. " My name & my craft," says she to 
Pilgrim, " thou shalt know soone enough ; for I am Wrath, y e 
rivelled fury of y e lowest pitt, y e Toad venomed, the Jangler, y e 
chider, she that of sweetnes have nothing. I am more hasty 
then flame of fire & more bitter then wormewood" (p. 151). 

The two stones which she carries in her hands are called Despite 
and Chiding. The significance of the saw held in her mouth she 
explains at some length : " Now Hearken & I will tell thee how 
Dame Justice (the Smithier of vcrtues and the forgeresse) have a 
file, (& a sharpe one too) called Correction. With her file she 
filcth sin to y e roote, & it suffereth neither rust nor filth to appcare 
vpon folke. Now hearken ; vpon a time she vndertooke me to 
file y* no rust should be vpon me nor filth. But wot you what ; 
I turned my Iron . . . towards her file & when she thought to 
have filed me, she filed my iron, & so indented it & so hacked it, 
y l a saw thereof I have made as thou here secst, the teeth are sharpe 

1 Offor, m, 130. 
2 Offor, m,364. 



The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 43 

& great, like y e teeth of an angry hound. Odium the saw is called 
by w ch I disjoynt y e love of brotherhood. . . . And I beare this 
saw between my teeth, to y* end that when I say my Pater noster, 
I be sawne & dissevered from God y e ffather ; for when y 1 I pray 
him to have mercy on me, & forgive me my misdeeds, as I forgive 
them that have misdone me, & nothing I forgive them, well I wott 
y* against my selfe I pray, turning y e teeth of y e saw to meeward, 
for he y* forgive not, shall not be forgiven" (pp. 152-4). The 
scythe, called Homicidium or Occision, she girds upon murderers 
and manslayers when they become her knights. With it many 
shrewd deeds are done, in royal palaces as well as iu other places. 
Mr. Wrath and Lord Murder, Diabolonians against whom the 
inhabitants of Mansoul are warned, are all that Bunyan gives us 
that is suggestive even in name of the old hag Wrath and her 
scythe Occidium. 1 



16. Pilgrim Passes Through a Horrible Valley. 

Pilgrim is urged by his handmaid, Memory, to put on his 
armor and to free himself from these vile hags. This he would 
gladly have done, had not Sloth and her evil companions occupied 
his whole time and attention. Bitterly he laments his folly in 
taking the part of Idleness. " As I was thus lamenting, all sad 
and sorrowfull, I saw before me a valley, darke, deepe & horrible, 
through which I must passe, If I would forth of my miseries, 
whereof I was sore abashed and right sorrowfull, for by darkenes 
& vnknowne wayes many pilgrims have been lost : In thickets & 
woods dwells theeves & murderers & right wild beasts. Such 
did I find great store, of w ch I will tell thee tomorrow if thou wilt 
come againe. But here I will make a resting & bid thee good 
night" (p. 156). 

Hill (Appendix, p. xxxiii), compares this valley with Buhyan's 
Valley of the Shadow of Death. Elsewhere (p. 33) he surmises 
that the Valley of the Shadow of Death may have been suggested 

1 Offor, in, 322. 



44 The Sources of Bimyan's Allegories. 

by the Valley Perilous of Sir John Mandeville. But certainly 
most of us will agree with Dr. Brown that "it is not worth while 
to go to Sir John Mandevillc's ' Valley Perilous ' " — and he might 
also have added Deguileville's Pilyrinuiye of Man — "for the sug- 
gestion of the Valley of the Shadow of Death while we have the 
twenty-third Psalm." l 



17. Pilgrim meets Avaeice. 

In this valley Pilgrim is confronted by an old hag more terrible 
and repulsive than any of the preceding. " As I descended in my 
way, another Old, of other fashion, of other manners, of other 
fowlenes then ever I had seen before shrewdly disguised, sett her 
in my way. And it seemed to me y 1 advisedly she intended to 
make me her prey, by her approach and fierce bearing. But a 
thing so fowle & ugly I find not in y e profit Danicll, nor Ezekiel, nor 
in y e Apocalypse : In all my life never did I see a thing so fowle, 
so embossed, & so mishapen, & it plainly appeared, that flee she 
would not ; About her neck did hang a wallet all to be clouted, 
therein she had put iron & brass good store, & sacked it together ; 
her tongue did helpe her much thereto, which did hang out all 
defaced, & fowle with measells ; She had sixe hands & two 
stumps, two of her hands had nailes, like y e nailes of Griffins : 
one of which she strongly put behind her : In y e other she held 
a file, & a paire of bellowes in y e third, in which she poised the 
Zodiack & y e sunne, with great intent to sett them to sale. In 
the 4 th hand she held a dish & a pocket with bread, in the 5 th she 
held a Crosier, & y e 6 th she laid vpon her broken haunch, and some- 
time put it vnto her tongue. And vpon her head there sate a 
mammon, which made her looke downewards" (pp. 157-158). 
She was engendered by Satan among the loathsome creatures of 
the lowest hell, and afterward given over to usurers to be nursed 
and brought up. " I have hands enough to gripe," she tells Pil- 
grim, " but none to give, for they that I should give withall are 
cut of by y e stumps by my father, that ministreth vnto me. . . . 

1 John Brown, John Bunyan, 1885, p. 290. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 45 

Sixe hands I have to gripe with sixe manner of waves, & I beare 
a sacke to fill w ch is bottomles, & y e mettall I put therein is 
heavy & presse me downe so hard, y l I shall rise no more. ... I 
sometimes taught Judas the Traitour, till he betrayed the king his 
master, & theu by my weight he was tumbled downe, & plunged 
into Hell" (pp. 164-165). 

This fantastic creature represents Deguileville's conception of 
Avarice. Her six hands are called Rapine, Cut-purse or Theft, 
Usury, Trewndise [Beggary] , Simony, and Treachery. At great 
length Avarice explains to Pilgrim the uses of each hand. 

In Bunyan's allegories the idea of Avarice is variously personi- 
fied. We have, for instance, in the Pilgrim's Progress — Mr. 
Hold-the- World, Mr. Money-love, Mr. Save-all, Mr. Gripe-man, 
a school-master in Love-gain in the town of Coveting, Sir Having 
Greedy ; in the Holy War — Gripe, Rake-all, Mr. Covetousness 
alias Good-Husbandry, Lord Covetousness alias Prudent-thrifty. 

Hill (Appendix, p. xxxv, note) cites as a parallel to Deguile- 
ville's Avarice Bunyan's Demas. But just as in the case of the 
Valley of the Shadow of Death, so here, the suggestion evidently 
came to Bunyan from the Bible. 1 The description of Demas's 
attempt to entice Christian to the silver mine in the Hill Lucre 2 
has nothing in common with Deguileville's crude conception of 
Avarice. With just as much reason Hill might have suggested 
as counterparts to Avarice's tongue Perjury and her spavined 
haunch Leasing — Mr. Liar, 3 one of the jurymen chosen to try 
Faithful; and to Avarice's sixth hand Treachery — Capt. Treacher- 
ous, 4 a Diabolonian slain by Capt. Execution. 



18. Pilgrim Meets Gluttony and Venus. 

While Avarice is preaching to him Pilgrim hears a voice crying, 
" Harrow Harrow, fellowes hold him fast & let him not escape us 

1 ' ' For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is 
departed into Thessalonica . . . " — ii Tim., iv, 10. 

2 Offor, m, 136. 

3 Ibid. p. 131. 
tlbid. p. 295. 



46 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

now. ffor well I sec that Avarice is too mikl & doc but gab" 
(p. 180). Upon hearing such words, declares Pilgrim, "I turned 
me aside & beheld a fearefull vgly, and hideous to look vpon, 
with great eyne and a long nose, holding a sacke fowle & deepe 
between her teeth, & she swore me a great Oath by All hallowcs, 
& y e truth she bare vnto St. George, I should not escape her hands, 
for she would hold me by the throat & strangle me. 

" And another I saw come after her with a visage like a lady 
(but it was false) which made me much afraid, for she rode vpon 
a swine, & was quaintly arrayed, but her clothing was all befowled 
with dung <fe filth, her true face & fashion she covered with her 
hood ; a dart in her hand she bore, wherewith she smote me 
through the eye vnto y e Heart, whereof much misse befell me, y 1 1 
had not on my Armour" (p. 181). 

The first, being asked her name, replies : " Gluttony . . . that 
in my pearched sacke put so much meat, as well may serve six 
poore men that wants. So much I eat, so much I drinke, & 
so much I sacke vp, that it becomes fowle & stinking, loath- 
some to myselfe, and loathsome to other folke" (p. 182). 

Turning to the other creature, Pilgrim inquires who she is. 
" I am Venus," she replies, " of whom thou hast heard Gluttony 
speake erewhile. I am she that put Virginity to silence, <fe make 
y e place past her returning. I pursue Chastity over all the world, 
without stinting either day or night ... I ride vpon a swine to 
shew my fowle desires by tumbling in y e dirty, fowle & filthy 
places ; fowle I am vnto thine eyes, but much fowler I am didst 
thou see me openly. Therefore I weare this painted visage to 
make thereof a coverture for my filthiness. My hood is called 
(fraud ; for when I am become elded with y e time, riveled and 
frounced, by art I make me bright and beautifull in despite of 
nature ... I am indeed a very dung-pott & a wallet. . . . 

"And then y e Hag [Venus] smote me with a dart to y e very 
heart, & felled me to y e ground ; Gluttony fell vpon me & held 
me by the throat. Avarice & all y e rest smote me by turnes, & 
well they shewed that no gowt was on them ; for they were too 
quicke" (pp. 186-188). 



The Sources of Bwnyan's Allegories. 47 

Sir Having Greedy in the Pilgrim's Progress and Ensign 
Devourer in the Holy War are the nearest approach Bimyan 
makes to a personification of Gluttony. Each is a mere name, 
however. The idea of impurity — Deguileville's Venus — is per- 
sonified again and again. In the Pilgrim's Progress are found 
such names as Lord Carnal-Delight, Old Lord Lechery, Mr. 
Love-lust, Miss Lust-of-the-flesh ; in the Holy War such names 
as Mrs. Carnal-lust, Mr. Carnal-sense, Mr. Evil-concupiscence, 
Lord Fornication, Lord Adultery, Mr. Flesh, Lord Lascivious- 
ness, Lord Mayor Lustings, Mr. Whoring. 

There are just two incidents in the Pilgrim's Progress which 
show any resemblance to Pilgrim's encounter with the old hag 
Venus. The first is that in which Mrs. Wanton assaults Faith- 
ful. Faithful, recounting to Christian his experiences, says, " I 
escaped the Slough that I perceived you fell into, and got up to 
the gate without that danger ; only I met with one whose name 
was Wanton, who had like to have done me a mischief. 

Chr. It was well you escaped her net ; Joseph was hard put 
to it by her, and he escaped her as you did ; but it had like to 
have cost him his life. But what did she do to you ? 

Faith. You cannot think, but that you know something, what 
a flattering tongue she had ; she lay at me hard to turn aside with 
her, promising me all manner of content. 

Chr. Nay, she did not promise you the content of a good 
conscience. 

Faith. You know what I mean ; all carnal and fleshly content. 

Chr. Thank God you have escaped her ; ' The abhorred of 
the Lord shall fall into her ditch.' 

Faith. Nay, I know not whether I did wholly escape her or no. 

Chr. Why, I trow, you did not consent to her desires ? 

Faith. No, not to defile myself; for I remembered an old 
writing that I had seen, which said, 'Her steps take hold on 
hell.' So I shut mine eyes, because I would not be bewitched 
with her looks. Then she railed on me, and I went my way." * 

The second is that in which Mr. Standfast tells of his expe- 

1 OSor, in, 117-118. 



48 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

rience with Madam Bubble : " As I was thus musing, as I said, 
there was one, in very pleasant attire, but old, who presented her- 
self unto me, and offered me three things : to-wit, her body, her 
purse, and her bed. ... I repulsed her once and twice, but she 
put by my repulses, and smiled. Then I began to be angry ; but 
she mattered that nothing at all. Then she made offers again, 
and said, If I would be ruled by her, she would make me great 
and happy ; for, said she, I am the mistress of the world, and men 
are made happy by me. Then I asked her name, and she told me it 
was Madam Bubble." * Madam Bubble, however, is a personi- 
fication of the pleasures and allurements of the world ; strictly 
speaking, she is not a counterpart of Deguileville's Venus. 

19. Pilgrim loses his Bourdon. 

In the fierce onset of the old hags Pilgrim is bereft of his 
bourdon. Bitterly he laments ever having undertaken the journey 
and especially his folly in having followed the path of Idleness, 
for noAV he has lost both Dame Reason and Grace Dieu. While 
thus vainly reproaching himself, he perceives hovering above his 
head a cloud, and from this cloud he hears a voice crying : " Vp, 
coward, wretch, vp I say, & make not here thine abode ; too much 
hast thou creeped vp & downe in this country, evill hast thou done 
thy craft & prooved thy selfe a shrewd knight. I have here 
brought again e thy Burdon. . . . To me stretch out thy hand & 
take it ; I once more give it vnto thee ; & I will establish thee & 
help thee, for I will not y e death of a sinner, although thou hast 
done evill against me. And I will that thou convert thee & 
amend thee, & passe y c " hedge of penitence & live. . . . And then 
I tookc her my hand, & to my Burdon she put it; which I most 
gladly griped & leaned to. So much I pained me, & so much she 
assisted me, that every Old then to me vgly & stinkinge soone 
forethought them, & went to their own Region, shamefully to 
their confusion " (pp. 190-2). 2 

1 Offor, in, 238. 

2 In Wright's text Grace Dieu throws down from the cloud a writing. This is 
Chaucer's ABC or Prayer to the Virgin. MS. Vitellius C. xiii contains a hlank 
space for its insertion. The present MS. omits the whole of chapters lv-lix of 
Wright's text. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 49 

As a parallel to Pilgrim's loss of his bourdon might be cited 
Christian's loss of his roll. 1 



20. Pilgrim bathes in the water of Repentance. 

Pilgrim now has pointed out to him by Grace Dieu a rock, in 
the upper part of which he sees the figure of an eye, and from this 
eye drops of water falling into a vat placed beneath. The rock 
represents the stubborn heart of a man who has forsaken the way 
of salvation ; the drops of water are the tears of repentance. In 
this water Grace Dieu tells Pilgrim he must be bathed. He com- 
plains that there is not enough water in the vat, whereupon, with 
the same rod that Moses used, she smites the rock and the vat is 
filled to the brim. "And then without tarrying I entered, I washed 
& bathed me ; And well I wott, had I there continued longer time, 
cleane and whole had I bin throughout. But soone thereout I 
went ; to such bathing I was never vsed ; I was not like King 
David that watered every night his Couch with his teares, & 
bathed himselfe with y e heat of his owne sorrow" (p. 195). 

In the Pilgrim's Progress two instances of washing are intro- 
duced, both being in the Second Part. 

(1). The keeper of the Wicket Gate " fed them [Christiana, 
Mercy, &c], and washed their feet, and set them in the way of 
his steps, according as he had dealt with her husband before." 2 

(2). Christiana, Mercy, and the boys are entertained at the 
House of the Interpreter : " Then, said he to the damsel that first 
opened unto them, Take them and have them into the garden to 
the bath, and there wash them, and make them clean from the 
soil which they have gathered by travelling. Then Innocent the 
damsel took them, and had them into the garden, and brought 
them to the bath ; so she told them that there they must wash 
and be clean, for so her master would have the women to do that 
called at his house, as they were going on pilgrimage. They then 
went in and washed, yea, they and the boys and all ; and they 

^flor, m, 105. 
2 Offor, in, 181. 



50 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

came out of that bath, not only sweet and clean, but also much 
enlivened and strengthened in their joints. So when they came 
in, they looked fairer a deal than when they went out to the 
washing. . . . Then he [the Interpreter] called for the seal, 
wherewith they used to be sealed that were washed in his bath. 
So the seal was brought, and he set his mark upon them, that they 
might be known in the places whither they were yet to go." l 

The second instance alone shows any likeness to Deguileville. 
This likeness, however, does not extend to the ideas symbolized, 
Pilgrim's bath being the bath of repentance, Christiana's the bath 
of sanctification. The metaphor is so common, especially in the 
Bible, that little or no significance can be attached to the fact that 
both allegorists make use of it. 

21. Pilgrim reaches the Sea of the World. 

After the bath Pilgrim resumes his journey and soon comes to 
" a sea, which was much troubled with great winds, stormes & cruell 
tempests." He is amazed at the sight which greets him. " Men 
& women therein I saw swimming diversely of which some floated 
above y e water, with much labour : some easily stood vpright & 
seemed to fly, for they had wings. Some had their feet fettered 
with the weeds of y e sea, which much annoyed them, some with 
hands & feet fast bound sanke, no more I saw them. And other 
some I saw diverse wayes blinded, of which I will be silent" 
(p. 197). 

In the sea he perceives a foul, hideous beast, with a horn hang- 
ing about his neck, fishing with cords and nets. " When he saw 
me coming, anon he blowed his home, & he stretched out his 
cords & his netts, y t I might not escape his snares. ... In this 
my great perplexity, I saw a great hag, old & filthy to looke 
vpon, y* came running backwards towards me with a faggot of 
wood vpon her necke, & she ran reeling over & over, crosse over- 
thwart hither & thither still crying yeild thee wretch, yeild thee, 
ffor seeing thou hast lost thy way, thou hast lost thy life" 
(pp. 198-199). 

1 Offor, in, 189. Bunyan calls this the hath of sanctification. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 51 

This old hag is Heresy, who threatens to rob Pilgrim of his 
scrip and bourdon and to burn him in a fire made from the bundle 
of faggots borne on her neck. Pilgrim, however, plucks up cour- 
age, and, seizing the bourdon, smites her such a blow that she is 
glad enough to escape. He is rewarded for his bravery by the 
praise of Grace Dieu, who now appears, and by her promise to 
lead him back into the right path. 

From her he learns the meaning of the sea and of the fisherman. 
This is the sea of the world. Those who go erect and have wings 
are they who care little for the pleasures of the world, who do not 
seek in the sea the things that are necessary for " y e ghost " ; these 
will in time be carried by their wings, which are the wings of 
virtue, into the fair city of Jerusalem. Those who go with their 
heads beneath, and their feet above, the water, have been weighted 
down by the sack of Avarice ; they are lost beyond all hope. 
Those who have their legs and feet bound by weeds are such as 
delight only in the things of the world ; they cannot fly ; it is as 
much as they can do to swim. The blind are those who, having 
had their sight destroyed by the vanities of the world, fail to see 
that the world and all that it contains are foul. The fisherman is 
Satan who ever strives by his hooks, his baits, his snares, his 
tempting vanities, to catch those in the sea in order to lead them 
to everlasting destruction. 

The world, Satan, heresy appear also in Bunyan's allegories, but 
how different is his conception of them from that of Deguileville ! 
Vanity Fair, Apollyon, and Mr. Heresy — a Diabolonian found 
lurking in Mansoul * — have nothing in common with the Sea of 
the World, the fisherman Satan, and the old hag Heresy. It is 
hardly supposable that the Sea of the World could have suggested 
to Bunyan the River of Death, though to believe this seems just 
as reasonable as to believe that the Water of Baptism is the proto- 
type of the Slough of Despond. 

22. Pilgrim meets Juvenesse and Tribulation. 

While Grace Dieu is explaining to Pilgrim the meaning of the 
Sea, there approaches " a damosell wanton with a ball in her hand ; 

1 Offor, in, 322. 



52 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

quaint & nice she seemed to be by her bearing, & her feet all rough 
& feathered like a dove" (p. 204). Her name is Juvenesse, and, 
being " light and nimble," she spends the time in playing with her 
ball. Setting Pilgrim upon her neck she carries him into the Sea 
of the World, into which she often plunges him. While in this 
perilous position, he sees another old hag riding the waves of the 
sea and steering straight for him. " Like a smithier she seemed 
... for she had an apron of a skin girt about her loynes, & in 
her hands a great hammer, & a pair of tongues. . . . Hither- 
ward, q d she, thou mussard, light downe & learne to swimme in 
this sea, for thou shalt be no longer borne : worke for thyselfe, 
thou art of age I trow" (pp. 208-9). Upon inquiry Pilgrim 
learns that her name is Tribulation ; that her hammer is called 
Persecution ; her tongs, Distress and Anguish ; the skin from 
which her apron is made, Shame and Confusion. She bears letters 
of commission both from God and from Satan, and tells Pilgrim 
that he can not possibly escape. 

" And as she so said, she did, & smote me so great a blow, that 
she felled me vnto the sea ; for Juvenesse soone let me fall, & left 
me in y e place, & had not my Burdon bin, I had bin drowned in 
y e sea, so great & dangerous was y e blow, & I could not swimme 
at all, but griped fast my Burdon, which susteined me. ... as 
I was thus swimming in y e sea, y e smithier me followed alwayes 
beating & so fast knocking vpon me, holding me with her tonges, 
that in a pressure I seemed to be, with so much anguish & sorrow 
of heart, that well nigh I had let my Burdon goe downe into y e sea, 
goe where it would" (p. 214). 

Kealizing his extreme danger, Pilgrim cries to God in bitter 
anguish and with penitent heart, whereupon Tribulation declares 
that she is simply a " Tryer," that she chastises the dissolute and 
smites the dull in order that she may save them, and that she her- 
self will carry him to Grace Dieu. Grace, upon seeing Pilgrim, 
reproaches him for allowing himself to be misled by Juvenesse, 
but, seeing how deeply penitent he is, she relents and promises to 
conduct him the shortest way to the fair city toward which he is 
traveling. 



The Sources of BunyarJs Allegories. 53 

Bunyan has no character corresponding to Tribulation, nor to 
Juvenesse, unless it be Madame Bubble whom we have already- 
compared with Dame Venus. Over against Shame or Confusion, 
the name of the skin from which Tribulation's apron was made, 
may be set Shame, 1 one of those whom Faithful met in the Valley 
of Humility, and Mr. Shameless, 2 who dwelt in Nauseous Street, 
Mansoul. 

23. Pilgrim enters the Ship of Religion. 

Pilgrim is led by Grace Dieu to a ship " wonderfull & great, 
floating in y e sea well nigh y e strand, & ready to make passage. 
She was fast fretted, & all bownd about with hoopes, but some of 
y e hoopes were loose & shaken by y e neglect of y e overseers ; not- 
withstanding good were y e hoopes, for they were sufficient, had 
they bin well observed. In y* ship were many mansions and 
dwellings, delicate & noble, & seemed ... to be houses of kings, 
ffor there were strong walls & towers, & vpon the mast hung a 
faire saile ready to sett forward, nothing wanting but good wind 
y 1 had none encumbrance" (pp. 218-9). 

The name of the ship is Religion. The frets and hoops are 
Observances. So long as she is well girt with these, she can not 
perish ; but there are some who care so little for the small hoops, 
which signify the little commandments, that often the whole ship 
is in danger. The mast that bears the sail is Jesus Christ ; the 
good winds are the Holy Ghost. Grace Dieu, who is mistress of 
this ship, advises Pilgrim to enter and lodge in some of the castles 
and towers, for, she declares, " they are all strong & defensible & 
keep thy body & thy soull, that they may be hurt by no enemies, 
ne put in danger. Better in this way then swimming. In the sea 
men be in perill alwayes " (p. 220). Pilgrim, however, hesitates, 
for at the entrance to the ship stands a porter with a great mace 
upon his shoulder, ready to smite every one who enters. The 
porter is named Fear of God, the mace God's Vengeance. 
Encouraged by Grace Dieu, Pilgrim at length enters, " but," he 

^ffor, in, 119. 
2 Ibid. p. 312. 



54 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

declares, " y e Porter forgat me not, but gave ine such a blowe, that 
to y e ground he lolled me, & had not my Burdon been to me a sus- 
tainer, never had I risen more " (p. 222). 

Nothing corresponding to the Ship of Religion is found in either 
the Pilgrim's Progress or the Holy War. The Palace Beautiful, 
which symbolizes somewhat the same idea, is quite different. Only 
in one point does it show the least resemblance to the Ship of 
Religion, and even here there is a variance : Pilgrim hesitates to 
enter the Ship for fear of the porter, Dread-of-God ; Christian, 
frightened at sight of the lions, hesitates to enter the Palace Beauti- 
ful until encouraged by the porter, Watchful. 

The name of the porter, Dread-of-God, finds its closest parallel 
in Bunyan's Mr. Godly-Fear — one of Emmanuel's followers who 
resisted the wiles of Mr. Carnal-security. 1 

24. Pilgrim meets many fair ladies in the Ship. 

In this ship are " Dortours, Cloysters, Churches, Chappels, 
Castles, Towers & faire houses many a one," and in these Pilgrim 
meets many " fair ladies." They are Charity, Obedience, Disci- 
pline, Wilful Poverty, Chastity, Study of Holy Writ, Temper- 
ance, Orison, and Latria. Charity is the same as she who held 
the parchment of peace when Moses divided the "relief" at 
the house of Grace Dieu. Lady Obedience, who is next in com- 
mand after Grace Dieu, bears cords with which she binds the 
hands, tongues, feet, and eyes of all the folk. Discipline carries 
in her mouth a file which is the knowledge of evil, and with it she 
scours and cleanses old sins. Wilful Poverty, who wears only a 
gambeson, sings joyously because she is entirely naked and so has 
nothing to hinder her passage to " y e Wicket." Her companion, 
Chastity, arrayed in a white rochet, is a deadly enemy to Venus, 
who had stolen the hearts of the people and driven her out of the 
world. Study of Holy Writ is the " Pittauncer " of the house ; 
Lady Temperance, superintendent of the refectory. Lady Orison 
serves the dead, while Lady Temperance serves the living. She 

1 Offor, ni, 326. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 55 

has wings with which to fly and an anger, called Fervent Continu- 
ance, with which to pierce the heavens. Lady Latria plays upon 
various instruments, one of them being a horn called the Invoca- 
tion of God. 

With the exception of Charity, none of these personifications are 
found in either of Bunyan's allegories. 

25. Pilgrim is attacked by Old Age and Infirmity. 

Pilgrim is now seized by Lady Obedience and bound hand and 
foot. As he lies perfectly helpless, he sees two "old ones" 
approaching. " The one bare vpon her necke two potents, her 
feet were of lead, & a boxe like a messenger did hang behind her. 
The other was a Messenger also, & vpon her head she bare a bed ; 
her laps were tucked vp like a wrestler " (p. 230). The latter is 
the first to speak. " I am . . . Infirmity the tedious, y* where- 
soever I find health, there I set me to wrestle & so wrestle till I 
vanquish ; one hower I vanquish, another howre I am over- 
throwne, but seldom or never am I beaten doune, but by y e helpe 
of medicine, which doe some comfort, & was borne I thinke to 
drive me away ; but eft-soone I returne & abide, maugre all their 
boxes, their ointments, their plaisters, & potions, & then anon I 
beare them downe, & fell them to y e earth, their marrow I sucke 
vp, their blood I drinke, & their flesh I eate, so that I leave them 
no strength nor vertue in their limbes, but cast them vpon their 
beds. Of which my working when my mistrisse perceives, anon 
she comes, & drawes out their life, either syne or soone" (p. 232). 

Then said the other " old one : " "I am she y* when thou wert 
borne by Juvenesse, thou put me in forgetting, & thought never to 
have seen me. Thou said in thy heart, Tut, she is farre of, she 
will not come a good while, she have feet of lead & goe softly, I 
have time enough to play me. . . . Now I tell thee truly, feet 
of lead I have, & soft I goe . . . And though I doe goe softly, 
yet I have thee overtaken, & bring tidings, y* Death, great Death, 
Death y e Just, y* none forbeare, is nigh vnto thee. I am her mes- 
senger, & none can more truly warne then I. . . . I am called 
Eld the doted, y e leane, y e rivelled, y e hoare-headed, y e bald. . . . 



56 The Sources of Bunyarfs Allegories. 

Nevcrtheles one kiudnes I will doe thee, thou shalt have my 
potents to leane vpon ; not that I intend to bereave thee of thy 
Burdon, but with y p spirituall staffe y e temporall is vsefull. The 
Burdon is a staffe for y e soull, but my Potents are to susteine thy 
body, to y* end & purpose I have made them " (pp. 234-5). 

The only point of similarity which even Hill (Appendix, p. 
lii, note) was able to discover between this part of Deguilc- 
ville's allegory and the Pilgrim's Progress is the bare fact that just 
as Old Age in the former is provided with crutches so is Mr. 
Ready-to-Halt in the latter. He might have added that just as 
Old Age offers to lend Pilgrim her crutches, so does Mr. Ready- 
to-Halt offer to lend Mr. Feeble-Mind his. 1 In justice to Hill 
it should be remembered that his book was published after his 
death from MS. notes. Had he lived to revise them, it is proba- 
ble that such absurd points of comparison as the hedge of Peni- 
tence and the stile leading into By-path Meadow, the crutches of 
Old Age and the crutches of Mr. Ready-to-Halt, would have been 
omitted. It is astonishing to find Kotz (p. 14), in his summary 
of Hill's work, accepting, without a word of protest, these sug- 
gestions as evidence of Bunyan's indebtedness to Deguileville : 
"dabei ergeben sich denn noch manche punkte der beriihring 
zwischen Guileville und Bunyan, z. b. die hecke am scheideweg 
und the stile auf der By-path Meadow ; die kriicken von Old Age 
und die crutches von Mr. Ready-to-Halt ; ankliinge an das ' Thai 
der Todes-schatten ' etc." 

26. Pilgrim is carried by Misericorde to the 
Infirmary. 

Pilgrim is seized by Age and Infirmity and bound fast. Being 
in this "pitiful plight," he is gladdened by the coming of a lady 
" for in countenance she seemed simply good, her face beautifull 
& pleasant, her breast was drawne out by y e vent of her coat, & 
in her hand she held a cord, which she vnfolded " (p. 236). With 
this cord she draws wretches out of misery, and therefore she is 

1 Offor, in, 223. 



The Sources of Bunyarfs Allegories. 57 

called Misericorde. She it is that feeds the hungry, clothes the 
naked, comforts the sorrowful, and entertains in her house poor 
pilgrims. " Ffor this purpose," she declares, " G-D. made me 
ffarmorer ! in this place, therefore if thou wilt come, and goe with 
me, I will helpe & serve thee" (p. 237). Pilgrim is ready and 
willing to go, but begs that she will first free him of the two 
" messengers " who lie so hard upon him. " Do them away, qd 
she, I may not, for they must goe with thee, but thou shalt enter 
there to rest, & they shall there attend thee, vntil their mistris 
come vnto thee, which will not be long " (p. 237). 

Mercy, the companion of Christiana and the boys on their pil- 
grimage, is the only one of Bunyan's characters who shows the 
slightest connection even in name with Deguileville's Misericorde. 

27. Pilgrim is set upon by Death. 

In the infirmary Pilgrim enjoys a brief period of rest, being 
greatly " comforted by the good lady of the place," but much 
afflicted by the " two messengers " — Old Age and Infirmity. 
Here death finds him. " Sodainely appeared a fearefull Old one 
vnto me, setting one foote vpon my bed, the other vpon my breast, 
which so abashed me, & jmt me in such feare that speake I could 
not, nor aske her any question. In her hand she held a sithe, 
wherewith she offered to now [mow] up my life. Which when 
G-D. perceived (who was not farre of) she said hold a while, I 
will say him two words before thou smite him. . . . And then 
G-D. came to me, & sweetly said. Now I see thee neare home, 
& at y e straite gate which is the end of thy Pilgrimage. Loe 
Death stands (with leaden feet & slow pace, yet come at last which 
is y e end of y e flesh & the determining) to mow vp thy life, & to 
give thy body to y e wormes, w ch thing is common to all. . . . Now 
looke whether thou be well appointed and prepared for this entrance 
or no ; if thou be not, long of thyselfe it is ; yet whilest thou 
breath, loose no time, for thou art neare y e wicket, even at the 
gate of y e faire city Jerusalem, to which thou hast been excited to 

1 Superintendent of the infirmary. 



58 The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 

goe" (pp. 239-40). Gladly would he have questioned Grace 
Dieu further, but it is too late. " Methought I was surprized, & 
that death had made her sythe ruuue through my body & my 
soull, to part which was to me great anguish & paine. In which 
feare I did awake out of my sleepe, being all in a sweat, & much 
troubled in my mind. Notwithstanding, vp I rose, & to the 
mattins I went, where little list I had to heare, or to pray, I was 
so affrighted, & my heart so fixed on y* that I had dreamt" 
(pp. 240-1 ).* With the single exception that both writers 
" awake from dreams," there is no resemblance between the clos- 
ing scenes of the two allegories. Bunyan, however, does not 
awake from his dream until Christian and Hopeful are safely over 
the River of Death and actually within the city of the New 
Jerusalem. 



Part I. of the Pilgrim's Progress concludes with the author's 
address to the reader, in which he admonishes him to seek the 
spiritual interpretation of his dream, to " throw away the dross " 
but to "preserve the gold." "These lines at the conclusion of 
Bunyan's dream," says Hill (Appendix, p. lvi), "show how simi- 
lar are the metaphors employed both by himself and De Guileville 
in their parting addresses to the reader." Now Lydgate's transla- 
tion contains no parting address to the reader but ends abruptly 

with 

' ' And, such a f eer anoon me took 
Out of my slep that I a-wook. ' ' 

Wright's text and the present MS. both have what might be called 
"a parting address to the reader," but neither shows any likeness to 
Bunyan's concluding lines ; in fact the language is not even figura- 
tive. The French text published by Barthole et Petit shows some 
similarity at this point to Bunyan, and it is this text, doubtless, 
which Hill had in mind. Below are printed the last two stanzas 
of Bunyan's address to the reader and the concluding lines of this 
French version. 

1 In Wright's text Pilgrim is waked by the ringing of the convent bell. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 59 

BlTNYAN. DEGUTLEVrLLE. 

" Put by the curtains, look within my veil, " Nul esmerueiller ne s'en doit, 

Turn up my metaphors, and do not fail ; Car iamais froment on ne voit 

There, if thou seekestthem, such things to Croistre / qu' entour paille n'y aye, 
find, 

As will be helpful to an honest mind. Jusques que dehors on Fen traye ; 

What of my dross thou findest there, be Par quoy, s'en mon songey a grain, 
bold 

To throw away, but yet preserve the gold ; Et auecques paille ou estrain 

What if my gold be wrapped up in ore? Y ait/ce qu'est bon/soit garde ; 

None throws away the apple for the core. Ce que n'est bon, soit hors venne. 

But if thou shalt cast all away as vain, Que ne dy pas tant seulement 

I know not but ' twill make me dream Pour ce premier liure present, 
again." x 

Dont cy endroit ie feray fin, 
Pour me reposer en chemin, 
Mais aussi pour ce que s'ensuit, 
Ou tout le grain en paille gist, 
Querecommandeauxbonsvenneurs, 
Qui sceuent hors venner erreurs." 2 

Hill (p. 40) also calls attention to the similarity between the 
envoys of Degnileville and Bunyan, but this, he thinks, " must of 
course be regarded as a circumstance perfectly fortuitous." This 
envoy, which is found in neither of the English prose versions but 
only in Lydgate's translation, is as follows : 

And when that yt a-mendyd ys, 
And se that nothyng be a mys, 
By a lace I shal yt were, 
And a-bowte my nekke yt bere, 
Send yt forth to euery contre, 
Wher-as to-fforn that yt hath be, 
Ageyn my wyl & my plesaunce. 
And thus for a Remembraunce, 
Go fforth thow dreme ! I sende the 
By all the placys wher thow hast be ; 
I send the to thy provynours, 
By all the pathys & the tovrs, 
ffor thow knowest the weye wel, 
And the passage euerydel. 
On my be halff [e] thow not ffaylle 
To dresse yt ewyn by entaylle, 

1 Offor, m, 167. 

2 Quoted by Dr. Furnivall. Lydgate, Part n, p. 665, note. 



60 Tlie Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

Wher thow wer fferst, wych doth me greve, 
And took of me no maner leve. 

Doo telle myn aventure cler, 

Ilow passyd syx and twenty yer, 

Telle vn-to on and all, 

Ilow that yt ys [to] me ffall, 

In the Ahbey off Chalys, 

Whylom ffoundyd off Seyn Lewyys. 1 

Bunyan sends forth the Second Part of the Pilgrim's Progress in 
a somewhat similar way : 2 

" Go now, my little book, to every place, 
Where my first Pilgrim has but shown his face, 
Call at their door." 

Such beginnings were at one time very common. 3 A much 
more probable prototype of Bunyan's envoy is found in Bernard's 
Isle of Man, for which see Chapter IV. 



The Second Recension of the Pilgrimage of Man. 

The Dcguileville texts used by Hill for comparison with the 
Pilgrim's Progress are, as I have said, the English verse transla- 
tion made by Lydgate and the French prose published by Bar- 
thole et Petit, both of which belong to the second recension. In 
order to make the present study as complete as possible, I shall 
now give a brief outline of Lydgate' s version, beginning with Pil- 
grim's escape from Rude Entendement. Up to this point the two 
recensions differ but slightly, but from this point to the end of the 
allegory the second recension shows many and wide divergencies 
from the first. 

Immediately after his encounter with Rude Entendement Pil- 
grim meets the damsel Youth, who is described just as in the first 

1 Lydgate, Part i, pp. 8-9. 

2 OfTor, III, 1G8. 

3 See Hill, pp. 41-42. 



The Sowces of Bunyan's Allegories. 61 

recension. She promises to find some one who will tell him the 
way to Jerusalem. Together they come to the forks of the road, 
and upon the advice of Youth Pilgrim chooses the path of Idle- 
ness. He has gone but a short distance before he sees a lady 
standing beside a gate. Her name is Moral Virtue. She tells 
him to take the right-hand road which leads through her gate. 
While he is considering the advice of Moral Virtue, he sees a 
corpse stretched upon a cross and a spirit speaking to it. This is 
the spirit of one, Mortification of the Body, who thus punishes his 
body for bringing him the wrong way. Pilgrim begins to reproach 
his own body. Grace Dieu appears and says that he, who subdues 
his flesh and does penance by bearing the cross on his back, goes 
the right way. Pilgrim declares that he is too weak to bear the 
cross. He sees in the path ahead of him a wheel within a wheel, 
both revolving. 1 The smaller wheel signifies Sensuality and its 
four spokes are the four parts of Christ's cross. The wheels, 
which revolve in opposite directions, symbolize the spirit and body 
which travel ways contrary the one to the other. Youth tells 
Pilgrim he is a fool to believe all he hears ; she attempts to dis- 
suade him from his journey, and finally having persuaded him to 
get on her back she flies aloft with him and then lets him drop. 
He is attacked by Venus and Gluttony. They tie him to the tail 
of Venus's sow, beat him, and rob him of his money. They finally 
leave him in order to assault a Newcomer — a great lord. Pilgrim 
is now beset by Sloth, Pride riding upon the back of Flattery, 
Envy with Treason and Detraction upon her back, Wrath, Tribu- 
lation, and Avarice. He is delivered from Sloth, from Envy, 
Treason, and Detraction by the appearance of a white dove ; from 
Avarice by Youth. Wrath is not a hag, as in the first recension, 
but a man. 

Passing through a wood, Pilgrim meets a messenger who invites 
him to the home of his mistress, — a pavilion on the top of which 
sits a crow. This is the school of Necromancy, which none enter 
unless sent hither by Covetousness. Necromancy has a sword and 
big wings and a book called " Mors Animae." She threatens to 

1 Ezekiel, i, 15-17 ; x, 10. 



62 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

slay Pilgrim with the sword, but he is again saved by the white 
dove. He next meets Heresy and her father, Satan — a hunter 
who lays his nets across land and sea and air. From Satan he 
learns the meaning of the Sea of the World. Relying upon his 
•scrip and bourdon, he attempts to swim across the sea. He sees 
a tree, and mistaking it for an island swims to it. Revolving 
round this tree is a wheel, the wheel of Fortune, and on it Pil- 
grim is cast. He is soon thrown from the wheel back into the 
sea. He is saved from drowning by the timely appearance of the 
white dove bringing a message from Grace Dieu. 1 

After this the waves begin to abate. He reaches a hill of 
sand and here meets Lady Astronomy-Astrology. He can see 
only half the body of this lady. The visible half is called 
Astronomy, the invisible half Astrology. Sailing to another 
island he meets the hag Idolatry. Entering her house he sees a 
carpenter or a mason in the act of kneeling and sacrificing to the 
image of a king placed on a chair. Upon Pilgrim's refusal to 
worship the idol, the carpenter threatens to chop oif his head. In 
great fear he flees toward a marsh. On the way he meets another 
old hag, Sorcery. On her head she bears a basket in which is a full 
face called Physiognomy, while in her right hand is a cut-off hand 
called Chiromancy. He is seized by Sorcery with her crooked 
hook but manages to escape. He reaches a rock but is dismayed 
at the sight of an old enchantress, Scylla or Conspiracy, coming 
toward him, riding the waves. At the sound of her horn, Scylla's 
hounds attack him but are driven back by the waves. In a trance 
he hears a melodious voice. It proceeds from a square tower 
which turns like a wheel. In the w T heel is a minstrel who is half 
man and half bird. The name of the minstrel is Worldly Glad- 
ness. By his playing he makes people forget their creator. The 
tower in which he lives is the dwelling-place of Satan, the great 
admiral of the sea. The minstrel plays his fiddle and sings, then 
seizing Pilgrim throws him into the sea. And now r he would most 
certainly have drowned, had not Youth returned just in the nick 
of time. Youth soon abandons him for Worldly Gladness. 

1 This is the prayer to the Virgin, for which a blank space is left in Cotton Vitel- 
lius, C. xni. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 63 

Grace Dieu now appears in a ship. After his bath of Repen- 
tance, Pilgrim is taken aboard the ship. He chooses the castle of 
Cystews. He meets Charity, Lady Lesson, Hagiography, Lady 
Obedience, Lady Abstinence, Chastity, Wilful Poverty, Impatient 
Poverty, Lady Prayer (Orison), and Latria. He is bound hand 
and foot by Lady Obedience for thirty-nine years. One day, 
while the porter is out and the king absent, Envy, Treason, De- 
traction, and Scylla enter, and drive out the ladies. Pilgrim 
escapes on a horse called Good Renown, whose four feet are : (1) 
Void of Defame, (2) Free-born, (3) Legitimate, (4) Sane. De- 
traction with her serpent-tongue causes his horse to fall, Envy 
wounds Pilgrim with her spears, Treason hits him on the head 
and breaks his arms and legs, the dogs of Scylla tear his flesh. 
He makes himself a woodeu leg and anoints his bruises. In the 
morning " Old Ovid " visits him and offers to curse his injurers, 
but Pilgrim declares that he will put off cursing till Doomsday. 1 
When the king returns, proclamation is made for the arrest of 
Pilgrim's enemies. The bells are rung and the ladies return, each 
to her duty, quietly and happily. 

Pilgrim resolves to spend some time in traveling. He visits 
many countries and meets with divers religions. At one place he 
sees Grace Dieu in a chariot and Angels on horses. He goes to 
Grace Dieu's chariot and tells her his adventures. Grace conducts 
him through many dwellings. She brings him to a convent pre- 
sided over by an old lady whose head is set on backwards, and who 
holds in her hand a great spoon. She is the bad Head of a convent. 
Her name is Abuse, the name of her spoon Gluttony. In this 
convent the rules of the order are disregarded, every nun does as 
she likes, the poor are neglected. He meets an old woman with a 
black raven flying round her. She is Apostasy. She often meant 
to turn back to the king, but the raven with his cry of "eras, eras," 
always stopped her. Two messengers of Death, Age and Sickness, 
seize Pilgrim and lay him on a bed. He is taken to the infirmary 
by Lady Misericorde. The Porter brings two messengers to show 
him the way to Jerusalem — Prayer and Alms. Death steps on 

1 Here follows an acrostic of his name : Guillernius De Deguile villa. — Part n, 
pp. 621-23. 



64 The kSources of Banyan's Allegories. 

his bed. Grace Dieu appears and warns him that Death is present. 
As Death swings his scythe, he awakes. 

It will he seen from the above outline that the two recensions 
show marked differences. These consist either of additional per- 
sonifications or of changes in the order of the incidents occurring 
in the first recension. In spite of these differences the second 
recension stands no nearer to the Pilgrim's Progress than docs the 
first, for the new matter was added with the purpose of expounding 
and enforcing yet more fully the doctrines of the Ilomanists, — 
doctrines which Bunyan regarded with the utmost scorn and con- 
tempt. 

Conclusion. 

In regard to Banyan's possible indebtedness to Deguileville, two 
suggestions have been made : (1) that he was personally familiar 
with the Pilgrimage of Man; (2) that its story had been told to 
him by a friend. 

If Bunyan were personally familiar with Deguileville's allegory, 
he must have become so through reading a French version, either 
in MS. or in printed form, or an English translation in MS., there 
being no printed English text so early as Bunyan's day. From 
what is knoAvn of his educational advantages, the extreme improba- 
bility of his being able to read any language save his own must 
be admitted. Several MSS. copies of English translations, in both 
prose and verse, of Deguileville's Le Pelerinage de V Homme were 
extant in Bunyan's time. Two of these MSS. — Ff. 6. 30 and 
Pepys No. 2258 — are modernised versions, the first, probably the 
second also, belonging to Bunyan's own period. 1 Several copies 
of the former were in circulation during the seventeenth century. 
But it should be remembered that MSS. were not easily procured, 
especially by men so situated as Bunyan. He had just endured 
a twelve years' imprisonment, during which his greatest hardship 
had been the concern felt for his poor blind daughter lest she 
should starve. To one in such straits the price of a MS. would 
appear a princely sum. 

1 Pp. 13-14. 



The Sources of Btmya/n's Allegories. 65 

The second suggestion — that Bunyan heard the story of Deguile- 
ville's poem from the lips of a friend — is of course quite possible; 
but, unless supported by strong resemblances between the two alle- 
gories, it remains a mere baseless conjecture. Are the resemblances 
sufficiently close to warrant such a supposition ? That certain 
points of likeness do exist is undeniable. The two allegories have 
the same basic idea — the representation of the Christian life as a pil- 
grimage. Both profess to be dreams (p. 1 8, above). In the Pilgrim's 
Progress Christian finds a guide in Evangelist ; in the Pilgrimage 
of Man Pilgrim finds a guide in Grace Dieu (p. 18). Christian 
falls into the Slough of Despond and is rescued by one named 
Help ; Pilgrim, in order to reach Grace Dieu's house, must pass 
through the Water of Baptism, through which he is aided by an 
"Official" of Grace Dieu's (p. 19). The King's laborers had 
been attempting to mend this Slough of Despond " for above these 
sixteen hundred years"; Grace Dieu's house had been "masoned 
thirteene hundred yeares & thirty before that time" (p. 21). 
Christian reaches the Palace Beautiful and is there entertained by 
the lovely damsels — Discretion, Piety, Prudence, and Charity ; 
Pilgrim is conducted to the house of Grace Dieu, where he meets 
Moses, Charity, Repentance, Dames Nature, Sapience, and Reason 
(pp. 22-28). Christian is furnished with armor by the damsels of 
the Palace Beautiful ; Pilgrim is provided with armor by Grace 
Dieu, but finding it too heavy begs for an attendant, which is 
granted him in the person of Memory (pp. 29-30). Immediately 
after leaving the Palace Beautiful, Christian finds his way blocked 
by Apollyon, from whom he escapes only after a terrible fight ; 
Pilgrim has barely left the house of Grace Dieu when he finds his 
passage disputed by a fierce-looking churl, Rude Entendement, 
from whom he escapes only by the intervention of Dame Reason 
( P . 33). 

These constitute the most striking parallelisms between the two 
allegories. To them might be added a few minor resemblances 
such as : the vision of the Heavenly City which Christian obtains 
by looking through the perspective glass of the shepherds and that 
which Pilgrim perceives on looking through the mirror at the end 
of his staff (p. 29) ; the names of Christian's fellow-pilgrims — 



66 The Sources of Bwn/yan's Allegories. 

Faithful and Hopeful — and the names of Pilgrim's scrip and staff 
— Faith and Hope (p. 29) ; Christian's straying into By-path 
.Meadow and Pilgrim's choosing the path of Idleness (p. 35) ; the 
Valley of the Shadow of Death and the "horrible valley" through 
which Pilgrim must pass (p. 43) ; Christian's loss of his roll and 
Pilgrim's loss of his stall' (p. 48); the proper names common to 
both allegories. 

Many of these parallelisms are easily accounted for as being the 
natural result of the treatment of a common theme. The need of 
a guide, the equipment of the pilgrim with armor, the passage 
through dangerous valleys, the wandering from the right path, the 
vision of the Heavenly City — these are points that would be 
naturally suggested to any one by the theme itself. In none of 
the parallelisms cited above is the resemblance very close. The 
Water of Baptism and the Slough of Despond symbolize totally 
different ideas. So do Kude Entendement and Apollyon. Yet 
these are instances in which the two allegories are probably 
most nearly parallel. When we turn to the characters introduced 
in both allegories, we find the widest possible difference. The 
crude conceptions of Deguileville are far removed from the won- 
derfully life-like personifications of Bunyan. Possibly no better 
proof of the vagueness of the so-called resemblances of the two 
allegories could be offered than the fact that it is impossible to 
determine which of the two recensions of Deguileville's allegory 
Bunyan knew — although the two recensions, as we have seen, 
show many and wide divergencies. Was Bunyan familiar with 
Lydgate's verse translation or with the seventeenth century prose 
version ? The determination of this question would tax the inge- 
nuity of the most scrutinizing critic. 

It is nothing more than just, also, to take into consideration 
Bunyan's own answer to the charge of having borrowed his alle- 
gory. Whatever this answer may lack in poetic value, it leaves 
nothing to be desired in the way of a vigorous, positive denial : 

"Some say the Pilgrim's Progress is not mine, 
Insinuating as if I would shine 
In name and fame by the worth of another, 
Like some made rich by robbing of their brother. 



The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 67 

Or that so fond I am of being sire, 

I'll father bastards ; or, if need require, 

I' 11 tell a lie in print to get applause. 

I scorn it : John such dirt-heap never was, 

Since God converted him. Let this suffice 

To show why I my Pilgrim patronize. 

It came from mine own heart, so to my head, 
And thence into my fingers trickled ; 
Then to my pen, from whence immediately 
On paper I did dribble it daintily. 

Manner and matter too was all mine own, 
Nor was it unto any mortal known, 
'Till I had done it. Nor did any then 
By books, by wits, by tongues, or hand, or pen, 
Add five words to it, or write half a line 
Thereof : the whole, and every whit, is mine. 

Also, for this thine eye is now upon, 
The matter in this manner came from none 
But the same heart, and head, fingers, and pen, 
As did the other. Witness all good men ; 
For none in all the world, without a lie, 
Can say that this is mine, excepting I." 1 

This emphatic denial of any indebtedness to other writers, the 
extreme improbability of any personal acquaintance on Bunyan' s 
part with the writings of Deguileville, the utter lack of any close, 
specific likeness between a single character or incident in the Pil- 
grim's Progress and a corresponding character or incident in the 
Pilgrimage of Man — these combined make it difficult to believe 
that Bunyan had ever read, or even heard, the story of Deguile- 
ville's allegory. 

Such an assertion, however, is by no means incompatible with a 
belief that Deguileville's influence is traceable in Bunyan. After 
all allowances have been made, there still exists a most remark- 
able similarity in general scope and treatment between the Pilgrim- 
age of Man and the Pilgrim 's Progress. Not only so, but it is 
inconceivable that a writer who attained such popularity as did 
Deguileville should not have wielded a wide influence, not only 
upon his contemporaries, but upon succeeding generations. That 
allegories were written subsequently to Deguileville in which the 

1 Offor, m, 374. 



68 Tlie Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 

course of human life is symbolized as a pilgrimage, is beyond all 
question. What could be more reasonable than ' the presumption 
that Deguileville's influence was transmitted to Bunyan through 
the medium of these intervening allegories ? In the course of our 
study, these will be examined with the special purpose of deter- 
mining whether or not they could have been the channel through 
which Deguileville's influence reached Bunyan. 



III. 



JEAN DE CARTHENY: THE VOYAGE OF THE 
WANDERING KNIGHT. 



1. Peeliminaey Remaeks. 

Among the books that have been most frequently suggested as 
possible prototypes of the Pilgrim's Progress is the Voyage of the 
Wandering Knight} Like Deguileville's allegories, the book was 
originally written in French. Its author was Jean tie Cartheny, 
or Cartigny, of whom even less is known than of Deguileville. 
According to the Biograpkie Univcrsclle, 2 Cartheny was a "reli- 
gieux carme," a doctor of theology, who died at Cambrai in 1580. 
The original work, under the title of Le Voyage du Chevalier 
Errant, was first published in 1557. It was translated into 
Flemish, German, Welsh, and English. The English translation 
appeared in 1580 or \81. 3 The book seems to have met with 
great favor in England, for before the end of the seventeenth cen- 
tury at least five editions had appeared, — 1581, 1607, 1650, 1661, 
1670. The fact that an edition appeared not many years before 
the Pilgrim's Progress " strengthens the conjecture," says a writer 
in the Retrospective Review (i, 250-258), "that he [Bunyan] might 
have been possessed of a copy, and that to the meditations arising 

1 Dunlop's History of Fiction, London, 1876, p. 300 ; Retrospective Review, I, 250- 
258 ; James Montgomery, Essay prefixed to an edition of the Pilgrim's Pi-ogress, 
1828, p. x ; Win. Carew Hazlitt, Offspring of Thought in Solitude, London, 1844, 
pp. 213-220; Lowndes, Bibl. Man., London, 1875, I, 380 ; Brunet, Man., Paris, 
1860, i, Col. 1605 ; Offor, Works of Bunyan, 1867, ni, 27-28 ; Josiah Conder, 
Essay on the Life and Writings of Bunyan prefixed to an edition of the Pilgrim'' s 
Progress, London, 1852 ; Southey, Life of Bunyan, Introduction to an edition of 
the Pilgrim' s Progress, 1839, p. lxxxii ; W. Reader, Gentleman's Magazine, Nov., 
1843 ; The Wandering Knight, London, 1889, Preface of the Translator. 

2 Biographie Universelle, 1844, vn, 83. 

3 Lowndes, i, 380 ; Brunet, 1860, I, col. 1605 ; Preface to The Wandering Knight, 
London, 1889 — a recent translation by A. J. H[anmer], 

69 



70 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

from the perusal of it during his imprisonment, we are indebted 
for the Pilgrim's Progress." 

The title-page of the edition of 1607 is as follows : The Voyage 
of the Wandering Knight. Sharing al the course of mans life, how 
a])t he is to follow vanitie, and how hard it is for him to attaine to 
Vertue. Devised by John Carthenie, a Frenchman : and trans- 
lated out of French into English, by W. G. 1 of Southampton, 
merchant. A worke worthie of reading, and dedicated to the 
right Worshipful, Sir Frances Drake, Knight. London, Printed 
by Thomas Este ; 1607. 

2. Outline of the Allegory. 

The Wandering Knight, having passed his youth in folly and 
lasciviousness, determines to make a voyage in search of true 
felicity. There lives with him a damsel whose name is Folly. 
She promises to be his guide. Folly is acquainted with an 
armorer named Evil- Will, who at her request makes for the 
knight a shirt of Lasciviousness, a doublet of lewd Desires, hosen 
of Vain Pleasures, armor of Ignorance, a corslet of Inconstancy, 
vambraces of Arrogancy, gauntlets of Idleness, a gorget of Licor- 
ousncss, a helmet of Lightness, a buckler of Shamelessness, a cap 
of Vain Glory, a girdle of Intemperance, a sword of Rebellion, 
and a lance named Hope of Long Life. Pride then provides him 
with a galloping horse called Temerity or Rashness. 

One fine morning Dame Folly accompanied by Evil-Will comes, 
and together they encase the knight in the armor which the latter 
had made. Folly apparels herself in a cloak of feathers, and 
mounting upon a jennet opens her feathers and wings to the wind, 
and away she flies, followed by the Wandering Knight upon his 
horse. Before traveling very far they come to a point where they 
find two ways. " One lay on the left hand, was fair, broad and 
nit ring into a goodly green meadow ; the other on the right hand, 
which was narrow, rocky, and full of mountains." The knight, 
greatly perplexed as to which road to take, consults Folly who 

1 William Goodyeare. 



The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 71 

tells him that the way on the left hand is " best and fairest." 
Just then he sees two ladies approaching. One of the ladies, who 
rides upon a white horse, wears a gown of costly colors, bravely 
embroidered with needle-work. She is very beautiful. She has 
a neat body, a sweet countenance, a modest gesture. She is not 
sour and grim, but lovely and amiable. The other Lady rides 
upon a rat-colored horse. She has on a colored gown garnished 
with gold, and about her neck is a chain of gold to which are 
attached rich jewels. Her face though beautiful appears to be 
painted ; her looks are wanton and inconstant, and she rolls her 
eyes in every direction. Asked by the knight which road he 
should take, she replies : " My son, if thou wilt follow me, I will 
bring thee a short and pleasant way thorow a green meadow ; be 
not doubtful, for I will lodge thee this night in the Palace of 
Felicity." She is the Empress of the Palace of Worldly Pleas- 
ures, and her true name, she declares, is Felicity, though her 
enemies spitefully nickname her " Malice, Vanity, Vice, and 
Voluptuousness." 

The knight now inquires of the other lady her name. " I am 
not," she declares, " the vile, villainous, vain, mischievous, subtil, 
deceitful, and lying Lady Voluptuousness ; but I am the assured and 
safe way that leadeth to perfect Felicity. And though I am narrow 
and painful to pass, yet if thou wilt follow me, I will make thee 
merry and guide thee into the very way which God hath ordained 
to lead unto true blessedness. ... I am commonly called Felicity, 
Wisdom, and Virtue." 

Folly urges him to take the path of Voluptuousness, for if he 
takes the path of Virtue he must undergo " cold, heat, hunger, 
thirst, travell, pain, and weariness." The way between the two, 
she declares, is but short, and, if he does not like his entertain- 
ment, he can easily climb over the mountains and reach the way 
on the right hand. Thus urged the knight follows the path of 
Voluptuousness. 

They soon come within sight of the Palace and are met by a 
legion of ladies pompously appareled, among whom are : " Lust, 
Prodigality, Leachery, Wantonness, Carelessness, Bravery, Lascivi- 
ousness, Ambition, Drunkenness, Licourishness, and such like." 



72 The Sources of Bvmyan'a Allegories. 

The next morning after breakfasting with Lady Voluptuousness, 
the knight has the cap of Curiosity placed upon his head and is 
then shown through the Palace. He visits the treasure house kept 
by Lady Fortune, the gallery of Pomp, the perfuming house kept 
by Lady Lasciviousness, the vaults of Dame Drunkenness, the 
kitchen of Licorousness, and the temple of Venus. By the side 
of Lady Venus sits a blind boy with a bow and arrow who shoots 
and strikes the heart of the Wandering Knight. 

On the walls of the Palace of Felicity are seven towers. Each 
tower has its owner. In the first lodges Pride, attended by Arro- 
gancy, Presumption, Wrath, Contempt, Heresy, Hypocrisy, Diso- 
bedience, Vain-glory, Ambition, &c. ; in the second Envy, attended 
by Banqueting, Treason, Disdain and others ; in the third Wrath, 
attended by Indignation, Blasphemy, Contention, Murder, &c. ; 
in the fourth Covetousness, attended by Usury, Simony, Fraud, 
Perjury, Deceit, Extortion, Oppression, and the Devil ; in the fifth 
Leachery, attended by Fornication, Adultery, Sacrilege, Incest, 
Rape; in the sixth Gluttony, attended by Excess, Foolish Mirth, 
Vain Babbling, Devouring, &c. ; in the seventh Sloth, in whose 
tower are fifteen several lodges such as Lasciviousness, Drowsiness, 
Carelessness, Dastardliness, &c. 

That night he lies with Dame Venus. Six days he spends in 
the Palace, transgressing God's commandments and leading a 
beastly life. On the morning of the seventh day Lady Volup- 
tuousness and the other ladies entertain the knight with a hunt. 
In the midst of the chase he stops to breathe his horse. Turning 
his eyes toward the Palace of Worldly Felicity, he is astonished 
to see it sink suddenly into the earth. He discovers, too, that he 
himself is stuck fast in the mire. He prays earnestly for help. 
"As I was thus praying, with a willing mind, shedding tears, 
striking my breast, conceiving sorrow for my sins, suddenly I saw 
a Lady descending down from heaven, setting herself before me, 
fast by the Bog where I stuck fast. This lady was of a marvelous 
majesty, and wonderful courteous ; she appeared to me in a gar- 
ment of white satten, a cloak of blew damask, imbroydercd with 
gold and pearls. Her face shined like the sun." This lady is 
God's Grace, the mother of Virtue. She reproaches the knight 



The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 73 

for following the path of Voluptuousness, whereupon he bitterly 
repents, begging her to help him " out of this beastly bog of 
filthie infection." His deliverance he thus describes : " God's 
Grace hearing this my lamentation, of her mercy stretched forth 
a Golden Rod, and commanded me to lay my hands upon it, 
which, when I did, I rose from my saddle and so was out of the 
Bog, where I left Temerity my horse and Folly my Governess to 
fish for frogs." 

After his rescue from the bog, the knight is first conducted by 
God's Grace to where the Palace of Worldly Felicity formerly 
stood. Instead of the Palace he finds a black dungeon, boiling 
with fire, from which pour a vapor and a stinking smoke of burn- 
ing brimstone. This is a picture of hell. He is then carried in 
the arms of God's Grace to the school of Repentance, which was 
built upon a high hill and environed with a moat called Humility. 
He is there met by Lady Repentance with her two waiting-maids 
"Sorrow for sin " and "Confession of sin." The only way, Repen- 
tance declares, by which he may enter her school is the narrow 
hole through which she herself has come. 1 With God's Grace 
pulling him by the head and Repentance shoving him by the feet, 
the knight finally gets through the hole — but minus his shirt of 
Lasciviousness. He is newly appareled by Repentance in hair and 
sack-cloth. " And then," continues the knight, " God's Grace 
appeared unto me with two women and a man who was a preacher. 
Now one of the women held in her right hand a sharp pricking 
iron rod (called the gnawing of the Conscience) ; in her left hand 
she had a red book whereat I was afraid. . . . The other woman 
was courteous and mild and gentle, holding in her right hand a 
book of gold. . . . She was called Remembrance. Conscience 
opened the red book which when I perceived and saw the words 
written with blood, declaring all my offences, ... I was amazed 
and became suddenly speechless." Conscience pricks him with 
her iron rod, Remembrance reads from her book of the goodness 
of God and his promises to repentant sinners, while the preacher, 
whose name is Understanding, preaches a sermon on the history 
of Mary Magdalene. 

1 This narrow hole represents the strait gate. 



74 



The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 



After receiving the holy communion the knight is taken to the 
Palace of Virtue. In this Palace there dwell in seven fair towers 
of alabaster Faith, Hope, Charity, Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude, 
Temperance. 1 Faith from her tower shows him "a mcrvailous 
sumptuous city " situated on a high hill. This, she tells him, is 
the City of Heaven in which are to be found true blessedness and 
perfect felicity. He is taught by Good Understanding how to keep 
Perseverance, who has been given him by God's Grace, and also 
to humble himself before God each day by repeating the creed, the 
ten commandments, and the Lord's prayer. 

3. Discussion. 

Two questions call for an answer : (1) Was Bunyan familiar 
with Cartheny's Voyage of the Wandering Knight ? ; (2) Was Car- 
theny familiar with Deguileville's Pilgrimage of 3Ian < ? In our 
endeavor to answer these the following summary of parallelisms 
between Deguileville, Cartheny, and Bunyan may prove helpful. 



DEC4UILEVILLE. 



Cartheny. 



Bunyan. 



1. Pilgrim makes a pil- 1. The Knight makes a 1. Christian makes a pil- 



grimage to the city of 
Jerusalem. 



pilgrimage in search of 
true felicity, which at 
last he discovers is to he 
found only in the City 
of Heaven. 

2. The Knight is per- 
suaded by Folly to visit 
the Palace of Worldly 
Felicity. 



grimage to the City of 
Jerusalem. 



2. Christian is persuaded 
by Mr. Worldly Wise- 
man to seek the house 
of Mr. Legality. 



3. Pilgrim is armed by 3. The Knight is armed 3. Christian is armed by 
Grace Dieu. by Folly. the inmates of the Pal- 

ace Beautiful. 



4. Pilgrim comes to the 
paths of Occupation and 
Idleness. He chooses 



4. The Knight comes to 
the paths of Virtue and 
Voluptuousness. He 



4. (a) Christian strays in- 
to By-path Meadow, (b) 
Christian and Faithful 



1 End of Part II. The third part contains very little allegory, being mainly a 
discussion of these several Christian virtues. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 



75 



Deguilevtlle. 
the path of Idleness. 



5. After taking the path 
of Idleness, Pilgrim en- 
counters : Sloth, Pride 
riding on the neck of 
Flattery, Envy with her 
two daughters Treason 
and Detraction upon her 
back, Wrath, Avarice, 
Gluttony, and Venus. 

6. Pilgrim passes through 
the Water of Baptism. 

7. Pilgrim, in trying to 
pass through the Water 
of Baptism, is helped by 
an ' Official ' of Grace 
Dieu's. Grace Dieu is 
his guide throughout 
the pilgrimage. 



9. Pilgrim receives the 
bath of Repentance. 

10. Wilful Poverty in the 
Ship of Religion sings : 
"I am all naked y e 

straite gate to passe, 
I have repented, & not 

as I was. 
Lordings come quickly, 



Cartheny. 

chooses the path of Vo- 
luptuousness. 



5. After taking the path 
of Voluptuousness, the 
Knight comes to the 
Palace of Worldly Fe- 
licity. Here he sees the 
seven towers of Pride, 
Envy, Wrath, Covetous- 
ness, Leachery, Glut- 
tony, Sloth. 

6. The Knight is caught 
in "a beastlie bog of 
filthie infection." 



BXJNYAN. 

are led astray by Flat- 
terer. 
[Hardly a parallel to the 
' ' dividing of the ways ' ' 
in Deguileville and 
Cartheny. ] 



6. Christian and Pliable 
fall into a " bog " — the 
Slough of Despond. 



7. The Knight is rescued 7. Christian, in trying to 



from the miry bog by 
God's Grace. God's 
Grace from this time on 
is his guide. 



get out of the slough, is 
aided by one Help. 
Evangelist is his guide 
throughout the pilgrim- 



8. The Knight, carried by 8. ( a) In the Valley of 



God's Grace to where 
the Palace of Worldly 
Felicity formerly stood, 
sees "a picture of hell." 



9. The Knight is carried 
to the School of Repen- 
tance. 



the Shadow of Death 
Christian perceives ' 'the 
mouth of hell to be." 
(b) Christian and Hope- 
ful are given a glimpse of 
hell by the shepherds of 
the Delectable Mts. 

9. Christiana enjoys the 
bath of Sanctification. 



10. In order to enter the 10. Christian is directed 



School of Repentance, 
the Knight must pass 
thro a "narrow hole" 
— which recalls to him 
the words of the Lord 
in the gospel of Matthew, 



by Evangelist to go first 
to the Strait-gate. When 
he reaches it, he is ad- 
mitted by the porter, 
Good-will. 



76 



The Sources of Buny ait's Allegories. 



Deguileville. 

y e wicket is open, 
Ffor each wight & his 
mate y* brings a to- 
ken" (p. 224). 

11. At the house of Grace 
Dieu Pilgrim sees Peni- 
tence enter, bearing in 
one hand a good rod, 
green and small, and 
also Charity with a book 
in one hand — the testa- 
ment of peace. 



Cartheny. 

"The way is straight 
that leadeth to everlast- 
ing life, and very few 
walk that way." 

11. At the School of Re- 
pentance God's Grace 
brings in two women : 
(a) Conscience, who 
pricks the Knight with 
her iron rod ; (b) Re- 
membrance, who reads 
to him out of a red book 
which she carries. 



BUNYAN. 



11. 



12. Pilgrim at the house 12. The Knight is taken 12. Christian is enter- 



of Grace Dieu sees Na- 
ture, Sapience, Repen- 
tance, Charity, Moses. 



13. Pilgrim, by looking 
through one of the "po- 
melles" of his staff, sees 
the Holy City. 



to the Palace of Virtue, 
where were seven fair 
towers in which dwelt 
Faith, Hope, Charity, 
Wisdom, Justice, For- 
titude, Temperance. 

13. The Knight is shown 
the City of Heaven from 
the tower of Faith. 



tained at the Palace 
Beautiful by Prudence, 
Piety, Charity, and Dis- 
cretion. 



13. Christian, by looking 
through the perspective 
glass of the shepherds, 
catches sight of the 
Holy City. 



From this summary it will be seen that there are only two cases 
of parallelism between Cartheny and Bunyan to which nothing 
in Deguileville corresponds : (1) the visit of the Knight to the 
Palace of Worldly Felicity and Christian's turning aside to the 
house of Mr. Legality ; (2) the Knight's vision of hell and Chris- 
tian's vision of hell. The first of these is really not a case of 
parallelism for the ideas symbolized are entirely different, while 
the second may well be the merest coincidence. 

There are also two cases of parallelism between Deguileville and 
Cartheny to which nothing in Bunyan corresponds : (1) both Pil- 
grim and the Knight meet with the seven deadly sins ; (2) Pilgrim's 
description of Penitence and Charity and the Knight's description 
of Conscience and Remembrance. In both of these the resemblance 
is strikingly close — especially in the latter. 



The Sources of Btmyan's Allegories. 77 

In the cases of parallelism between all three allegories, Bunyan's 
Slough of Despond and Cartheny's "filthy bog of infection" have 
a closer kinship with each other than either has with Deguileville's 
Water of Baptism. Cartheny and Bunyan also make more of the 
"strait gate" than does Deguileville. On the other hand Car- 
theny's School of Repentance is more nearly parallel with Deguile- 
ville's Bath of Repentance than either is with Bunyan's Bath of 
Sanctification, while his description of the paths of Virtue and 
Voluptuousness is almost an exact counterpart of Deguileville's 
description of the paths of Occupation and Idleness. The guide 
of Cartheny's Knight is GooVs Grace, of Deguileville's Pilgrim 
Grace Dieu. 

Evidently the resemblances between the Pilgrim's Progress and 
the Voyage of the Wandering Knight are much more general than 
the resemblances between the Voyage of the Wandering Knight and 
the Pilgrimage of Man. The difference is sufficient, I think, to 
warrant the conclusion that, while Bunyan does not show distinct 
traces of Cartheny's influence, Cartheny did owe much to Deguile- 
ville. Cartheny's indebtedness to Deguileville seems still more 
probable when we remember that before the middle of the sixteenth 
century Deguileville's allegories had become so widely known in 
France both in MS. and in printed text that Cartheny, who like 
Deguileville was a Frenchman, could hardly have failed to be 
familiar with them. 



IV. 

RICHARD BERNARD : THE ISLE OF MAN. 



1. Preliminary Remarks. 

The two allegories — the Pilgrimage of Man. and the Voyage of 
the Wandering Knight — were, as we have seen, originally written 
in French. The allegory which we shall now consider was the 
work of an Englishman. Richard Bernard, the author of the Isle 
of Man or the Legal Proceedings in Manshirc against Sin, was born 
in 1567. He attended Christ's College, Cambridge, receiving the 
degree of M. A. in 1598. The same year he took charge of the 
church at Epworth. Three years later he was made vicar of 
Worksop, Nottinghamshire. His withdrawal from the Separatists, 
with whom he had been at one time a sympathizer, involved him 
in many bitter controversies. "He was, however, a Puritan in 
doctrine and a non-conformist in well-nigh everything they objected 
to." In 1613, Bernard became rector of Batcombe in Somerset- 
shire. During the remaining years of his life he wrote a large 
number of books on various subjects. He died in 1641. ' 

The Isle of Man 2 was written, according to the testimony of the 
author himself, about the beginning of the year 1627. In the 
" Apology " prefixed to the fourth edition, he says " for though 
from his first birth in the world it be scarce half a year, yet he is 
grown a little bigger ; but I think him to become to his full stature. 
... I pray you now this fourth time accept him and use him." 

x Dic. Nat. Biog., iv, 386-387. 

2 The title-page of the fourth edition is as follows : The Isle of Man ; or, The 
Legall Proceeding in Man-shire against Sinne. Wherein by way of a continued 
Allegoric, the Chiefe Malefactors disturbing both church and commonwealth, are 
detected and attached ; with their Arraignment, and Judiciall triall, according to 
the Lawes of England. The spiritual use thereof, with an Apologie for the man- 
ner of handling, most necessary to be first read, for direction in the right use of 
the Allegory thorowout, is added in the end. By R. B. Rector of Batcombe, 
Vomers. The fourth edition much enlarged. London. Printed for Edward 
Blackmore, at the great South doore of Pauls, 1627. 

78 



T/ie Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 79 

This is signed " R. B. May 28, 1627." No further alterations or 
additions were made apparently, for the fourteenth edition, printed 
in 1668, agrees precisely with the fourth. 1 

The book was remarkably popular. 2 According to Jarman, the 
editor of the edition published in 1851, there had appeared before 
the end of 1627 no fewer than six editions. Ten years before the 
publication of the first edition of the Pilgrim's Progress, Bernard's 
little book had reached its fourteenth edition ; one year before the 
publication of the Holy War, its sixteenth edition. There is 
nothing at all improbable, therefore, in the conjecture that a copy 
may have fallen into the hands of Bunyan. 

Most of those who are familiar with the Isle of Man believe 
that Bunyan was indebted to it — especially for some of the ideas 
contained in the Holy War. James Montgomery declares : "It 
is very doubtful whether he [Bunyan] ever met with the Voyage 
of the Wandering Knight, but it may reasonably be assumed that 
our Author was familiar with Bernard's ingenious allegory." 3 
Toplady thinks that it "in all probability suggested to Mr. John 
Bunyan the first idea of his Pilgrim's Progress and of his Holy 
War." 4 Dr. Adam Clarke writes in his journal : " A thought 
strikes me ; John Bunyan seems to have borrowed his Pilgrim's 
Progress from Bernard's Isle of Man ; Bernard his Isle of Man 
from Fletcher's Purple Island ; Fletcher took his plan from Spen- 
ser's Faery Queen ; Spenser his Faery Queen from Gawin Doug- 
las' King Hart and Douglas his plan from the old Mysteries and 
Moralities which prevailed in his time." 5 The Dictionary of 
National Biography says " it dimly preluded the Pilgrim's Prog- 
ress." 6 Southey, on the other hand, speaks more confidently. 
" No one," he declares, " who reads this little book can doubt that 

1 In the 14th edition the Author's Apology, which just as in the 4th edition is 
signed "R. B. May 28, 1627," has, instead of the words "scarce half a year," 
the words "near a year." 

2 Lowndes, Bibl. Manual, London, 1875, i, 163. 

s James Montgomery, Essay, 1828, p. xiii. 

4 Gospel Magazine, 1776, p. 478. 

5 Life of Dr. Adam Clarke, n, 290. See also the Pilgrim's Progress with Life of 
the AutJior and Postscript by Dr. Adam Clarke, LL. D., London, 1861. 

6 Die. Nat. Biog., iv, 387. 



80 The Sources of Burvy art's Allegories. 

it had a considerable effect upon the style of Bunyan's invention. 1 
Todd goes even further than Southey: "To this work I am of 
opinion Ave may attribute John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and 
also Benjamin Reach's Travels of True Godliness and his Progress 
of Sin." 2 Dr. Brown is more guarded in the expression of his 
opinion : while Fletcher's Purple Island and Bernard's Isle of 
DIan " may not have been without some points of suggestiveness 
for the writer of the Holy War, this latter work is yet a much 
wider conception, is more ably sustained, and bears unmistakable 
signs of its writer's unrivalled genius and power." 3 

From the widely prevalent belief that Bunyan was indebted, 
more or less, to Bernard's Isle of Man, OfFor dissents in his char- 
acteristically dogmatic fashion : " There is not the slightest simi- 
larity between this and the Pilgrim's Progress, and the only 
resemblance it bears to the Holy War, is making the senses the 
means of communication with the heart or soul — an idea usual 
and universal in every age, the use of which cannot subject a 
writer to the charge of plagiarism." 4 

The book is dedicated " To the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas 
Thynne Knt. and his religious Lady The Lady Catharine Thynne." 
Following the dedication are the " author's earnest requests " to 
the reader and " The Apology." The Apology which Bunyan 
prefixed to the Pilgrim's Progress is very much after the manner 
of Bernard's Apology, as may be seen from the following paral- 
lelisms : 

1. Bernard answers the objections of those who are too "grave" 
to enjoy a book that may cause laughter ; Bimyan attempts 
to meet the objection that his book wants " solidity." 

Isle of Man. Pilgrim's Progress. 

"These things [table of contents] are "Solidity, indeed, becomes the pen 
the substance of all this book couched Of him that writeth things divine to 
within the allegorical narration : which men : 

1 Southey, Select Biographies, Cromwell and Bunyan, London, 1844, p. 171. 
Murray Library. 

2 Henry J. Todd, The Works of Edmund Spenser, London, 1805, n, pp. exxiv- 
exxv. 

3 John Brown, The Holy War, edited with Introduction and Notes, London, 
1887, Introduction, p. viii. Cf. Life of Bunyan, 1885, p. 287. 

*Offor, in, 34. 



The Sources of Buny art's Allegories. 



81 



Isle of Man. 

is no dreaming dotage, no fantastic toy, 
no ridiculous conception, no old wives' 
tale told ; Some have an humor to de- 
light in finding of faults. . . . Some are 
so rigidly grave that forsooth it is a miss 
to read therein they may have occasion 
offered any way to laugh or smile : when 
they may remember that even Abraham 
the gray-headed, old, aged, and grave 
father once laughed. ... If any dislike 
this little book for want of matter, let 
him be pleased to consider these one and 
forty particular instructions before set 
down. ... If two or three passages 
carry not that gravity in show, as some 
perhaps could wish they did, let these 
consider therein in those places the in- 
forced nature of the allegory. 



Pilgrim's Progress. 

But must I needs want solidness, because 

By metaphors I speak ? Were not God' s 
laws, 

His gospel-laws, in olden time held 
forth 

By types, shadows, and metaphors ? Yet 
loath 

Will any sober man be to find fault 

With them, lest he be found for to as- 
sault 

The highest wisdom. . . . 

Be not too forward, therefore, to con- 
clude 

That I want solidness, that I am rude : 

All things solid in show, not solid be ; 

All things in parables despise not we, 

Lest things most hurtful, lightly we re- 
ceive ; 

And things that good are, of our souls 
bereave. 

My dark and cloudy words they do but 
hold 

The truth, as cabinets enclose the gold. 



2. Bernard points out " the true scope and right use " of his 
book ; Bunyan shows " the profit of his book." 



Isle of Man. 

' ' Besides all these things let them 
be pleased to attend to the scope of 
the Book, wherein two things are 
principally aimed at : ( 1 ) To dis- 
cover to us our miserable and wretch- 
ed estate through corruption of na- 
ture. ... (2 ) To show how a man 
may come to a holy reformation, 
and so happily recover himself out 
of his natural wretched estate. . . . 
These things being the true scope 
and right use of this Book, and the 
matters therein contained so be- 
hoofefull and necessary to every 
true christian, I hope no sober- 
minded man can, much less will, 
find fault with it." 



Pilgrim's Progress. 

" And now, before I do put up my pen, 
I'll show the profit of my book, and then 
Commit both thee and it unto that hand 
That pulls the strong down and makes weak 

ones stand. 
This book, it chalketh out before thine eyes 
The man that seeks the everlasting prize ; 
It shows you whence he comes, whither he 

goes, 
What he leaves undone ; also, what he does ; 
It also shows you how he runs and runs, 
'Till he unto the gate of glory comes. 
It shows, too, who set out for life amain, 
As if the lasting crown they would attain ; 
Here, also, you may see the reason why 
They lose their labour, and, like fools, do 

die." 



82 



The Sources of Bwnyan's Allegories. 



3. Both authors cite the Scriptures in justification of their adopt- 
ing the form of allegory. 



Isle of Man. 

"If the manner [of] laying these 
things down in a continued allegory, 
be the offense to some, I do suppose 
they know that Nathan did teach a 
David by an allegory. Esay and 
Ezechiel taught the Jews so too, 
and that our Saviour spake many 
parables to his hearers. . . . But the 
fault, if a fault, peradventure, is not 
simply imputed for making an alle- 
gory, but in following it so largely 
and for inserting (as it were in- 
terlude-wise) some things for the 
weightiness of the matter therein 
contained, not seeming grave enough 
as the parables of Christ and his 
Prophets were." 



Pilgrim's Progress. 

"The prophets used much by metaphors 
To set forth truth : Yea, who so considers 
Christ, his apostles too, shall plainly see, 
That truths to this day in such mantles be. 



Sound words, I know, Timothy is to use 
And old wives' fables he is to refuse ; 
But yet grave Paul him nowhere did forbid 
The use of parables. 



I find that Holy Writ, in many places, 
Hath semblance with this method, where the 

cases 
Do call for one thing to set forth another ; 
Use it I may, then, and yet nothing smother 
Truth's golden beams ; nay, by this method 

may 
Make it cast forth its rays, as light as day." 



4. Bernard shows what effect his allegory ought to have on the 
Christian reader; Bunyan describes the effect of his book 
upon those who read understandingly. Both caution the 
reader against overlooking the " spiritual sense." 



Isle of Man. 

"I confess the matter of this alle- 
gorical discourse to be such ... as 
ought to work in every Christian 
Reader sorrow of heart in the deep 
consideration of his miseries, till he 
be recovered out of his wretched 
estate : and withal to cause a dili- 
gent endeavor in sober sadness to 
better his condition of living Chris- 
tian-like before God ; neither of 
which is prevented by the manner 
of handling, if all would do, as some 
have done, first to read it after the 
letter and then attend to the spiri- 
tual sense, they would attain to that 
which in so penning it I aimed at." 



Pilgrim's Progress. 

" This book will make a traveller of thee, 
If by its counsel thou wilt ruled be ; 
It will direct thee to the Holy Land, 
If thou wilt its directions understand ; 
Yea, it will make the slothful active be ; 
The blind, also, delightful things to see." 
[Cf. also the following lines which are from 
"The Conclusion" to Part I of the Pil- 
grim's Progress — Offor, in, 167 :] 
"Take heed also, that thou be not extreme, 
In playing with the outside of my dream : 
Nor let my figure or similitude 
Put thee into a laughter or a feud. 
Leave this for boys and fools ; but as for thee, 
Do thou the substance of my matter see." 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 



83 



Bernard says that knowing the natures of men he was per- 
suaded the allegory might be " as a bait to catch them " ; 
Bunyan likens the allegory to the devices of the fisherman for 
catching fish or of the fowler for catching game. 



Isle of Man. 

' ' I knew the natures of men in 
the world : I persuaded myself that 
the allegory would draw many to 
read which might be as a bait to 
catch them, perhaps, at unawares, 
and to make them to fall into a 
meditation at the length of the 
spiritual use thereof : which I well 
hoped that others more religiously 
bent, would at the first discern and 
make benefit of." 



Pilgrim's Progress. 

" May I not write in such a style as this? 
In such a method too, and yet not miss 
My end — thy good ? Why may it not be done? 



You see the ways the fisherman doth take 
To catch the fish ; whatengines doth he make! 
Behold ! how he engageth all his wits ; 
Also his snares, lines, angles, hooks, and nets. 
Yet fish there be, that neither hook nor line, 
Nor snare, nor net, nor engine can make thine : 
They must be grop' d for, and be tickled too, 
Or they will not be catch' d, whate'er you do. 
How does the fowler seek to catch his game 
By divers means ! All which one cannot 

name : 
His gun, his nets, his lime-twigs, light and 

bell: 
He creeps, he goes, he stands ; yea, who can 

tell 
Of all his postures ? Yet, there's none of these 
Will make him master of what fowls he please. 
Yea, he must pipe and whistle, to catch this, 
Yet if he does so, that bird he will miss." 



Bernard concludes his Apology in the following lively fashion : 
" Well, I have clothed this book as it is. It may be some humor 
took me, as once it did old Jacob, who apparelled Joseph differ- 
ently from all the rest of his brethren in a party-colored coat. It 
may also be that I took (as Jacob did in his Joseph) more delight 
in this lad than in twenty other of his brethren born before him, 
or in a younger Benjamin brought forth soon after him. 

" When I thus did apparell him I intended to send him forth 
to his brethren, hoping thereby to procure him the more accep- 
tance, where he happily should come : and my expectation hath 
not failed, deceived altogether I am not, as was Jacob in sending 
his Joseph among his envious brethren. For not only hundreds, 



84 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

but some thousands have welcomed him to their houses. They 
say they like his countenance, his habit and manner of speaking 
well enough, though others, too nice, be not so well-pleased there- 
with. 

" But who can please all ? Or how can any one so write or 
speak, as to content every man ? If any mistake mc, and abuse 
him in their too carnal apprehension, without the truly intended 
spiritual use, let them blame themselves, and neither me nor him : 
for the fault is their own, which I wish them to amend. You that 
like him, I pray you still accept of him, for whose sake, to further 
your spiritual meditation, I have sent him out with these contents, 
and more marginal notes. His habit is no whit altered, which he 
is constrained by me to wear, not only on working days, but even 
upon holy days and Sundays too, if he go abroad. A fitter gar- 
ment I have not now for him ; and if I should send out the poor 
lad naked, I know it would not please you. This his coat, tho' 
not altered in the fashion, yet is it made somewhat longer. For 
though from his first birth into the world it be scarce half a year, 
yet he is grown a little bigger. But I think him to become his 
full stature ; so he will be but a little pigmy, to be carried abroad 
in any man's pocket. I pray you now this fourth time accept him 
and use him as I have intended for you, and you shall reap the 
fruit, tho' I forbid you not to be Christianly merry with him. So 
fare you well in all friendly well wishes. R. B. May 28, 1627." 

Southey was impressed with the similarity between this passage 
and the verses introductory to the Second Part of the Pilgrim's 
Progress, and expressed the opinion that Buuyan evidently had the 
passage in mind when he wrote these introductory lines. 1 The 
likeness consists rather in tone and spirit than in any specific 
details. 

2. Outline of the Allegory. 

The great malefactor is Sin, a notable thief and robber. He 
robbeth God of his honor and man of God's favor ; he robbeth 

1 Robert Southey, Life of Bunyan, prefixed to an edition of the Pilgrim's Progress, 
1846, p. 67. 



The Sources of Buny art's Allegories. 85 

us of our graces, — the spiritual money which we have iu the purses 
of our heart to help us in our journey to heaven. He is a very 
strong thief; no human power can subdue him. Therefore he 
must be diligently sought out. The watchman appointed for this 
purpose is Godly-Jealousy, who has for his assistants Love-Good 
and Hate-Ill. These three are set to watch over Soul's-town, a 
great resort thronged day and night with travelers, many of whom 
lodge at the common inn, Heart. The town is very spacious and 
wide, having four great streets — Sense St., Thought St., Word St., 
and Deed St. 

The watchmen keep careful watch, and when the thief is descried 
they make Hue and Cry after him ; but Sin hath many friends. 
They are : (1) One Mr. Out-side, in the inside a Carnal Securitan; 
(2) Sir Worldly-wise, a very fool to God, a self-conceited earth 
worm ; (3) Sir Luke-warm, a temporizing time-server, a Jack on 
both sides ; (4) Sir Plausible Civil, a fashionable fellow, to the life 
of religion a stranger; (5) Master Machiaeval — all for policy, 
little for piety ; (6) One Libertine ; (7) Scrupulosity, an unsociable 
and a snappish fellow, one who labors to have the Hue and Cry 
against all reformation in christian churches as against heresy ; 
(8) Babbling Babylonian, a bloody anti-christian adversary. 

Sin has two shifts by which he attempts to escape : (1) by a 
show of virtue ; (2) by the name of virtue put upon vices. And 
so Drunkenness escapes under the name of Good-Fellowship, Cove- 
tousness under the name of Good-husbandry, Filthy Ribaldry under 
the name of Merriment, Pride of Apparel under the name of 
Decency and Handsomeness. If Sin cannot escape Godly-jealousy 
by either of these means, he seeks help from his kindred. These 
are : (1) His Grand-sire Ignorance, (2) his brother Error, (3) his 
cousin Opinion, (4) Master Subtilty, (5) Custom, (6) a Popish 
fellow called Forefathers, (7) Sir Power, (8) Sir Sampler, (9) Sir 
Most-do, who holds it no sin to do that which almost all or the 
greatest part do, (10) Sir Silly, (11) Vain-Hope, who hopes to 
escape punishment by making God all of mercy, (12) Sir Wilful, 
(13) Sir Saint-like. 

In spite of all these favorites of Sin, Godly-Jealousy spies him 
out and procures a warrant against him from the justice of the 



86 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

peace. The Justice is the very Lord Chief Justice of heaven and 
earth, the Lord Jesus. The warrant, which is the Power of God's 
Word, is obtained from some of the Lord Chief Justice's secre- 
taries, the writers of Holy Scriptures. The officer whose duty it 
is to attach Sin is Understanding. There are four sorts of officers 
who may attach felons by warrant : (1) The Deputy-Constable i. e. 
the Understanding darkened ; (2) The Tithing-man i. e. Gross 
Understanding ; (3) The Petty-Constable i. e. Understanding some- 
what cleared ; (4) The Head or Chief Constable i. e. Illuminated 
Understanding. The habitation of Illuminated Understanding is 
Regeneration. His wife is called Grace; his two sons — Will and 
Obedience; his three daughters — Faith, Hope, and Charity; his 
two servants — Humility and Self-denial ; and his two maids — 
Temperance and Patience. 

The Chief Constable proceeds to serve the warrant. In addi- 
tion to his tAvo servants, Humility and Self-denial, he calls upon 
his neighbor Godly-sorrow and his seven sons Care, Clearing, 
Indignation, Fear, Vehement Desire, Zeal, Revenge. Upon the 
way they are joined by a couple of busy fellows, Self-Love and 
Self-Conceit. Self-denial is ordered to rid them of the first, 
Humility to rid them of the second. They continue their way to 
Sin's lodging. This is a common inn, the house of one Mrs. Heart 
a harlot, a receptacle for all villains, whores, and thieves. Here 
no one is denied house-room or harbor. To cover her naughtiness 
as much as she may, she hath got into her house one called Old- 
man to become her husband, though she is really his daughter. 
They live in incest together and keep riot night and day. The 
house has five doors : the door of Hearing, of Seeing, of Tasting, 
of Smelling, of Feeling. With Mrs. Heart live eleven daughters, 
lewd strumpets and as impudent harlots as herself. These are the 
eleven passions of the heart — Love (of worldly and fleshly vani- 
ties), Hatred, Desire, Detestation, Vain-hope, Despair, Fear, 
Audacity, Joy, Sorrow, Anger. Besides these she keeps a man- 
servant called Will, who has at his command the feet, the hands, 
the tongue. Mrs. Heart soon has her guests into the dining-room. 
The table is Instability, the table-cloth Vanity, the bread the 
Fitness of every sin's proper object. The salt, which seasoneth 



The Sources of Bwnyan's Allegories. 87 

Sin's appetite to feed itself, is Opportunity, the trenchers are 
strength of every man's nature to act sin, the napkins are the 
pretended shows of Virtue. There are three dishes of meat : 
Lusts of the Flesh served in the plate of Pleasure, Lusts of the 
Eyes served in the platter of Profit, Pride of Life served in the 
charger of Worldly Estimation. Their drink is the Pleasurable- 
ness of Sin for the present. The waiters are the eleven maids 
already mentioned and Will their man. 

After supper Mrs. Heart provides lodging. All lie in one room, 
Natural Corruption. In this room lie Mistress Heart, all her 
maids, her man Will, and all her guests together, like wild Irish. 
The bed they lie upon is Impenitency, the coverings Hardness of 
Heart and Carnal Security. 

Being now attached by the Chief Constable, they are taken to the 
next Justice, Well-informed Judgment. Inasmuch as Sin is not 
bailable, they are carried straightway to jail, which is called Sub- 
jection. The chief-jailer is Master Newman, the sheriff is True 
Religion, the under-sheriff Holy Resolution. Master Newman 
has three under-jailers, Saving Knowledge, True Holiness and 
Righteousness. 1 

The judge of the assizes is Conscience, who sits upon the bench 
of Impartiality, and who has as his circuit his Own Soul. The 
justices of the peace are Science, Prudence, Providence, Sapience ; 
the inferiors are Weak Wit, Common Apprehension, and such like. 
The king's sergeant is Divine Reason, the king's attorney Quick- 
sightedness. Memory is clerk of the court, the Tongue the clerk 
of arraignment, the Manifestation of the Spirit the crier, true 
Repentance or Godly Sorrow the complainant. A true bill hav- 
ing been found against the prisoners, they are brought before the 
bar called the Apprehension of God's Wrath due for sin. The 
jury, a chosen company of excellent virtues, are Faith, Love of 
God, Fear of God, Charity, Sincerity, Unity, Patience, Innocency, 
Chastity, Equity, Verity, Contentment. The prisoners challenge 
them all and in their stead propose Masters Naturalist, Doubting, 
Opinion, Careless, Chiverel, Libertine, Laodicean, Temporizer, 

1 End of Part I. 



88 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

Politician, Outside, Ambodexter, Neutrality. The exceptions are 
not admitted and the first jury remains. 

Old Man, Mrs. Heart, and Wilful Will are brought to trial. 
The first two are convicted and sentenced. Wilful Will, because 
he appears penitent, has his sentence deferred. One of the wit- 
nesses to testify against him is Corporal Discipline. His testi- 
mony is that Wilful Will is a great hindrance to spiritual warfare : 
"Our Powder of holy affections he hath damped, the Match of the 
fervency of the spirit he hath put out, the small shot of Spiritual 
Ejaculations he so stopped as in time of need they would not go 
off", of the Sword of the Spirit he quite took away the edge ; he 
brake the Helmet of Salvation, bruised the Breastplate of Right- 
eousness, the Shield of Faith he cast away, and unloosed the Gir- 
dle of Verity ; the points of all the pikes of divine threats by 
presumption he so brake off*, as they had no force to prick the 
Heart." 

The trial of the eleven maids is postponed in order that two 
great traitors and rebels may be arraigned, Covetousness and 
Idolatry. Covetousness pleads in his defense that his real name 
is Mr. Thrift, and that he has driven out a company of very 
unth rifts — Waste, Riot, Prodigality, Drunkenness, Gluttony, such 
bad men-servants as Slack and Slothful, Careless and Wasteful, 
Love-bed and Drowsie, such bad maid-servants as Pranker and 
Prattle, Wanton and Love-sick, Sleepy and Slugge, Sweet-lip and 
Dainty. On the other hand, he has introduced such thrifty men- 
servants as Care, Wary, Thrifty, Advantage and Hold-fast, Cun- 
ning and Catch, such profitable maids as Quick and Nimble, 
Trusty and Timely, Healthful and Chaste, Ever-doing and Silent. 
Covetousness is condemned " as a rotten member of the flesh to 
be mortified and cut off." 

The jury impaneled to try Idolatry, or Papistry, are : Com- 
mon Principles, Apostles' Creed, Second Commandment, Pater 
Noster, Holy Scriptures, Apocrypha, Counsels, Fathers, Con- 
tradiction among themselves, Absurdity of Opinion, Consent of 
their own men, Testimony of Martyrs. Papist makes exception 
to Holy Scriptures unless it be "our own translation." The 
exception is allowed and the trial proceeds. He is testified 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 89 

against by Verity and Sir Christianity, and being found guilty is 
condemned to the lake of fire. 



3. Discussion. 

Both in spirit and in style the Isle of Man strongly resembles 
the allegories of Bunyan. It is not without wit, its meaning is 
clear, while its attacks upon bigotry, shams, godlessness in whatever 
form, its hostility to the Papists, its attitude of liberality towards 
the Non-conformists — make it just the book that would have 
received the hearty approval of Bunyan. 

Not only is the germ of the Pilgrim's Progress, however, not 
found in the Isle of Man, but it is not even suggested. The two 
allegories are based on different ideas. Familiarity with Ber- 
nard's little book, while it could not have suggested the Pilgrim's 
Progress, might have induced Bunyan to try his hand at allegory. 
With the possible exception of the trial of Sin and the trial of 
Faithful, the two have no incidents in common. In the Isle of 
Man the trial is the culmination of the whole story, in the Pil- 
grim's Progress it is only incidental to the central idea. A few 
names, such as Ignorance, Vain-hope, Presumption, are found in 
each. This, of course, means little, but in the formation of certain 
compounds the resemblance becomes somewhat significant. Sir 
Worldly Wise at once recalls Mr. Worldly Wiseman, while Love- 
good and Hate-ill might easily have suggested to Bunyan Love- 
lust, Hate-light, Lord Hate-good, or, in the Holy War, Mr. For- 
get-good, and Mr. Love-no-good. 

Though the Isle of Man does not contain the germ of the Pil- 
grim's Progress, it does contain the germ of Bunyan's second 
great allegory, the Holy War. Both allegories have as their 
root-idea the contest for supremacy in the human soul between 
the forces of good and the forces of evil. 1 Bernard describes this 

1 Phineas Fletcher, in The Purple Island, 1633, represents the human body as 
an island, the bones being the foundations, the veins the brooks, &c. There 
seems to be nothing in common between it and Bernard's allegory. In 1610 was 
published a little book, entitled Roomcfor a Messe of Knaves, containing "A nar- 
ration of a strange but true battle fought in the little Isle (or World) of Man." 
See J. Payne Collier, Catalogue of Library at Bridgewater, 1837, p. 157. 



90 The Sources of Banyan's Allegories. 

struggle under the symbolism of a trial, Bunyan under the sym- 
bolism of war. The scene of Bernard's allegory is Soul's town in 
Manshire, lying in the Isle of Man; of Bunvan's allegory, Man- 
soul, situated in the country of Universe. In the former allegory 
the place of special interest is an inn, called Heart; in the latter, 
a stately palace, the name of which we are told in the margin is 
Heart. This inn has five doors — Hearing, Seeing, Tasting, Smell- 
ing, Feeling. The five gates of Mansoul are Ear-gate, Eye-gate, 
Mouth-gate, Nose-gate, and Feel-gate. 

The two allegories have several names in common. "Wilful 
Will might have suggested to Bunyan Lord "Will-be- Will. Mr. 
New-man, the jailer in the Isle of Man, finds a counterpart in Mr. 
True-man, the jailer in Mansoul. The Illuminated Understanding 
is the head or chief constable in the Isle of Man ; My Lord Un- 
derstanding, the Lord Mayor of Mansoul. In the Isle of Man 
Conscience is judge of the assizes ; in the Holy War Conscience is 
the recorder of Mansoul. In the Isle of Man two pestilent fel- 
lows — Self-love and Self-conceit — join in the search for sin. In 
the Holy War are found two characters of the same name : Mr. 
Self Conceit, 1 one of the men brought by Diabolus to Mansoul ; 
Mr. Self-love, the son of Mr. Evil-questioning and his wife, No- 
hope. 

Bunyan also introduces the trial-motive in the Holy War, but, 
just as in the Pilgrim's Progress, the trial-feature is merely inci- 
dental. The trial of Sin may have suggested the trial of the 
Diabolonians after the taking of Mansoul by Immanuel. Such a 
supposition is confirmed : 

(1) By the similarity in the names of the jury. Among the 
jurymen chosen to try Sin are Faith, Love-of-God, Fear-of-God ; 
among those chosen to try the Diabolonians are Mr. Belief, Mr. 
Love-God, Mr. Zeal-for-God. 

(2) By the fact that the prisoners in both allegories plead the 
same excuse. In the Isle of Man Covetousness declares that his 
real name is Mr. Thrift; in the Holy War Mr. False-peace 
declares that his real name is Peace, 2 Mr. Pitiless that his name 

1 This name also occurs in the Pilgrim's Progress. See Offor, III, 119. 

2 Offor, in, 312. 



The Sources of Bunyan* s Allegories. 91 

is Mr. Cheer-up, 1 Evil-questioning that his name is Honest- 
inquiring. 2 

In the Isle of Man one of the shifts of Sin is to call vices by the 
name of virtues. " And so/' says Bernard, " Drunkenness es- 
capeth under the name of Good-Fellowship, Covetousness under 
the name of Good-husbandry, Filthy Ribauldry under the name of 
Merriment, Pride of Apparel under the name of Decency and 
Handsomeness." A remarkably similar passage occurs in the 
Holy War: "But these Diabolonians love to counterfeit their 
names ; Mr. Covetousness covers himself with the name of Good- 
husbandry, or the like ; Mr. Pride can, when need is, call himself 
Mr. Neat, Mr. Handsome, or the like, and so of all the rest of 
them." 3 

That Biinyan was familiar with Bernard's allegory, and that 
he was influenced by it, possibly in the Pilgrim's Progress, cer- 
tainly in the Holy War, scarcely admits of doubt. The Isle of 
Man had reached its fourteenth edition before the Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress was published, its sixteenth edition before the publication of 
the Holy War. It would be strange if Bunyan had not known a 
book which attained such popularity. When to this fact are 
added the many likenesses between the Isle of Man and the Holy 
War, the indebtedness of Bunyan to Bernard becomes almost a 
certainty. 



1 IUd. p. 314. 2 Ibid. p. 366. 

3 Ibid. p. 314. Cf. p. 333. 



V. 



(A) BOLSWERT: DUFYKENS ENDE WILLE- 
MYNKENS PELGRIMAGIE. 



Many foolish assertions have been made in regard to Bunyan' s 
indebtedness to the works of others, but possibly the most absurd 
is the following story which was published in the public journals 
about 1825 : "The friends of John Bunyan will be much sur- 
prised to hear that he is not the author of the Pilgrim's Progress, 
but the mere translator. It is, however, an act of plagiarism to 
publish it in such a way as to mislead his readers ; but it is never 
too late to call things by their right names. The truth is, that 
the work was even published in French, Spanish, and Dutch, 
besides other languages, before John Bunyan saw it, and we have 
ourselves seen a copy in the Dutch language, with numerous 
plates, printed long previous to Bunyan' s time." * 

The work here alluded to was an allegory written by the Flem- 
ish engraver, Boetius A. Bolswert, and entitled Dufykens ende 
Willemynkem Pelgrimagie tot haren beminden binnen Jerusalem. 
During the first half of the seventeenth century the book ran 
through several editions— 1625, 1627, 1632, 1636, 1641. It 
was translated into French and frequently printed — 1636, 1684, 
1734, 1819. No English translation, it seems, has ever been 
made. 2 

The allegory describes the journey of two sisters, Dovekin and 
Willcmynken — called in the French version Colombellc and 
Voloutairette — to their Beloved in Jerusalem. They first wash 

1 Jas. Montgomery, Essay, 1828, pp. xxviii fl. ; Southey, Select Biographies, 
Cromwell and Bunyan, London, 1844 ; Offor, ni, 35. 
2 Brunet, Man., i, col. 1079. 

92 



The Sources of Bunyan' s Allegories. 93 

in a river which has its source in Eome and which flows on to 
Jerusalem. This river marks the route of their journey. They 
gather flowers to give to their Beloved. Willemynken carelessly 
loses hers but finds them again. At length they reach a village at 
which a fair is in progress. Willemynken, who will not listen to 
the warnings of the prudent Dovekin, stops to look at some 
mountebanks and becomes infested with vermin. Because of her 
imprudence and obstinacy she is always in trouble. She takes a 
by-path and falls into a ditch. Her heedlessness ends in her 
destruction. In spite of her sister's entreaties, she climbs to a 
high and dangerous point, and is blown thence by a sudden gust 
of wind into a deep pit, where she is left to her own fate. Dove- 
kin continues her journey, reaches the city of Jerusalem, and is 
espoused to her Beloved. 1 

No one who had ever read Bolswert's book could for a moment 
suppose that Bunyan was indebted to it. And yet we fiud Dun- 
lop, in his History of Fiction, 2 saying that if Bunyan has borrowed 
from any source "the notion of a journey through the perils and 
temptations of life to a place of religious rest," it was most proba- 
bly from this allegory. So wide is the distance between the two, 
that Southey at the close of his outline of Bolswert's Pilgrimage 
contemptuously exclaims, "And this is the book from wliieh Bun- 
yan is said to have stolen the Pilgrim's Progress ! " 



1 An outline is given by Southey in his Life of Bunyan, prefixed to an edition of 
the Pilgrim's Progress, 1846, pp. 69 ff. Cf. Joseph Cottle, Reminiscences of Samuel 
Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey, London, 1847, pp. 249-252. 

2 History of Fiction, London, 1876, p. 300. Cf. Philip's Life of Bunyan, London, 
1839, pp. 561-562. 



94 The Sources of Buny art's Allegories. 



(B) SIMON PATRICK : THE PARABLE OF THE 

PILGRIM. 



•1. Preliminary Remarks. 

With the exception of Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man and 
Bernard's Isle of 31an no book has been more frequently suggested as 
a source of the Pilgrim's Progress than Simon Patrick's Parable 
of the Pilgrim} 

Simon Patrick, Bishop of Ely, was a contemporary of Bnnyan's. 
He was born in Lincolnshire in 1626, educated at Queen's Col- 
lege, Cambridge, and in 1658 appointed Vicar of Battersea. In 
1662 he was presented to the rectory of St. Paul's, Co vent Garden. 
In 1691 he was transferred to Ely, where he remained until his 
death in 1707. 2 The Parable of the Pilgrim was written, accord- 
ing to the author's own testimony, in 1663. 3 The Die. Nat. 
Biog. says that it was published the following year. The earliest 
edition mentioned by Lowndes and the earliest copy I have seen is 
dated 1665. That the book enjoyed great popularity is evident 
from the frequency with which it was printed. Editions appeared 
in 1665, 1667, 1668, 1670, 1673, 1678, 1687. 

Patrick leaves us in no doubt as to the source of his inspiration. 
In the dedication he says that he was induced to undertake the 
work from reading Baker's Sancta Sophia, which contained a short 
discourse entitled The Parable of the Pilgrim. 4 This dedication, 
addressed to a friend, bears such close resemblance to Bernard's 

1 James Montgomery, Essay, p. xviii ; .Gospel Magazine, 1776, p. 478 ; Pilgrim's 
Progress, T. Heptinstall, London, 1796, p. 405; Pilgrim's Progress, J. Rivington 
& Others, London, 1826, p. xi ; J. M. Wilson, Pilgrim's Progress with Life, Lon- 
don, 1852, pp. xxxvi-xl ; Josiah Conder, Pilgrim' s Progress with Life, Philadelphia, 
1882 ; Offor, in, 41 ; Quarterly Review, xliii ; W. Reader, Gentleman's Magazine, 
Nov. 1843; Academy, vm, 63; Die. Nat. Biog., xxiv, 46; John Brown, John 
Bunyan, 1885, p. 287 ; Robert Philip, Life of Bunyan, London, 1839, p. 563. 

2 Die. Nat. Biog., xliv, 45-47. 

3 Patrick's Autobiography, 1839, p. 51. 

4 The ultimate source of Patrick's allegory is Hylton's Scala Perfectionis. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 95 

" Apology," that it is hardly conceivable that its author was not 
familiar with the earlier allegory. " As to the dress of it/' writes 
Patrick, " I know that you will not expect this Pilgrim should 
come to you in fine Apparel and like some Gallant ; but rather 
judge it more decent that he is attired plainly according to the 
quality and condition of his person and profession. This made me 
the more careless in what clothing I set him out, and to take such 
trimming as came next to hand." 

The dedication is followed by " An Advertisement," and here 
again we are strongly reminded of Bernard's " Apology," and also 
of Bunyan's verses introductory to the Second Part of the Pil- 
grim's Progress. Patrick declares that his Pilgrim was first 
written " with a respect to the necessities of a particular person," 
but that he had met with one who would no longer permit him to 
remain in such privacy. " In obedience therefore to the com- 
mands he received, he comes now abroad, and offers his assistance 
to any that shall think good to make use of it : being grown also 
bigger since he went thither, and so of better ability to serve more 

than one And now it would argue great unexperience of 

the world to expect, that this Pilgrim should not meet with some, 
whose curiosity he cannot humour ; aud others whose sowreness 
nothing can please. But he that sends him abroad will be abun- 
dantly satisfied if he become useful to any well-disposed Soul, who 
shall have a mind to bear him company to Jerusalem. And if he 
chance to meet with any that shall only study to cavill, and pick 
a quarrell with him ; He is prepared before hand to take no notice 
at all of it, nor to be more troubled at their incivility ; than a 
devout Hermite is at the ugly faces, which the Creatures who 
something resemble men make at him, as he is walking through 
the desarts." 

Bunyan's Pilgrim is similarly instructed as to the conduct to be 
pursued toward hostile critics : 

OBJECTION IV. 

"But some love not the method of your first ; 
Komance they count it, throw' t away as dust, 
If I should meet with such, what should I say ? 
Must I slight them as they slight me, or nay?" 



96 TJie Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 



" My Christiana, if with such thou meet, 
By all means, in all loving-wise, them greet ; 
Kender them not reviling for revile ; 
But if they frown, I prithee on them smile ; 
Perhaps 'tis nature, or some ill report, 
Has made them thus despise, or thus retort." ! 



2. Outline of the Allegoky. 2 

In the 527 pages of the Parable of the Pilgrim there is com- 
paratively little allegory. A man, who calls himself Philotheus 
but is called by others Theophilus, "being weary of the Country 
where he dwelt, and finding no satisfaction in any thing that he 
enjoyed, took a resolution to shift his seat, and to seek for that, of 
which he felt as great a desire as he did a want, in some other 
Land " (p. 2). He visited many strange countries, underwent 
many dangers, until finally utterly exhausted in body and in spirit 
he sat down upon the ground in a state of great despondency. He 
fancied an angel flew by him and touched him with his wing, and 
straightway he remembered a place called Jerusalem, its beauties 
and its glories, and a strong desire to go to this city filled his soul. 
Many weary hours he spent in trying to find the best way to 
Jerusalem, being perplexed by the multiplicity of ways which he 
was told to take. At last he heard of a safe guide, whom he 
sought and begged to direct him. He was warned by the guide 
" that the way is both long, and also full of many and great diffi- 
culties ; and that there are many waies also which will seem to 
you to lead streight to it, and which many men will point you 
unto as the next rode ; which if you should take, will lead you 
into great danger, and not only carry you a great deal about, but 
perchance conduct you to the quite contrary place, and end in 
your utter undoing" (p. 19). 

The following 250 pages are taken up with the guide's direc- 
tions to the Pilgrim. He is instructed how to form a strong reso- 

1 Offor, in, 170. 

2 The copy before me is dated 1668. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 97 

lution ; he is advised to procure as his companions — Humility and 
Charity; he listens to long descriptions of Jerusalem and the 
manner of life there, of Jesus, of the true way to the Heavenly 
City ; he is warned against the enemies that will assault his reso- 
lution — his Fleshly Desires and Worldly Fears. 

Having thanked the guide for his instructions, the Pilgrim set 
out upon his journey. The air was fresh and balmy, the birds 
sang joyously, his heart was filled with gladness. But before 
many weeks had passed the ways became rugged and the country 
more barren. Some of his old companions whom he met attempted 
to turn him back, saying that the road was beset with thieves and 
with many difficulties. His resolution, however, continued firm. 
His joy left him; he became seriously ill. Just as he was about 
to despair of life, he received a comforting letter from his " beloved 
Father" [the guide], which resulted in his complete restoration 
to health. At his urgent request, the guide consented to become 
his constant companion. They discoursed upon the necessity of 
discretion, temperance, humility, charity. Upon reaching the 
top of a high hill, they saw a wonderful spectacle. Other pil- 
grims were there who had placed themselves in strange postures, 
some upon their knees with eyes elevated toward the skies, some 
upon tip-toe, others stretching out their arms as though they were 
wings. The two travelers, thinking to discover what had attracted 
the gaze of the other pilgrims, looked in the same direction. 
"And they had not done so very long, but by the advantage of 
this Mountain, and the clearness of the air, and the steadiness of 
their eyes, and the quiet and silence wherein they all were ; they 
had a very fair prospect of the Heavenly Jerusalem" (pp. 454-5). 

3. Discussion. 

From this outline it is seen that there are almost no incidents 
in Patrick's Parable of the Pilgrim and that the amount of alle- 
gorical matter is extremely slight. The greater part of the book 
consists of long, tedious discussions of a purely didactic character. 
Except for the fact that the Parable of the Pilgrim does not pro- 
fess to be the account of a dream, the framework is the same as 



98 The Sources of Bwrvyan's Allegories. 

that of the Pilgrimage of Man and the Pilgrim's Progress. 
In each of the three allegories a pilgrim sets out for the new 
Jerusalem, finds a guide, undergoes many difficulties, catches a 
vision of the Heavenly City. The effort of former companions 
to dissuade Philotheus from his journey finds a parallel in Chris- 
tian's experience with Mistrust and Timorous, 1 while the letter 
which he receives during his illness from his "beloved Father" 
recalls the letter written to Pilgrim by Grace Dieu. 2 But the 
resemblances are too few and too general to justify the belief 
that Bunyan was directly indebted to Patrick, or that Patrick 
owed anything directly to Deguileville. All that can safely be 
said is, that the same idea which underlies the Pilgrimage of Man 
and the Pilgrim's Progress underlies the Parable of the Pilgrim, 
and that it is given the same general setting as in these two 
allegories. 



1 Oflor, in, 105. 

2 See above, p. 48, note 2. 



VI. 

OTHER BOOKS SUGGESTIVE OF BUNYAN. 



The ultimate source of all allegories representing the Christian 
life as a pilgrimage is doubtless to be found in the eleventh Chapter 
of Hebrews. But nowhere do the Scriptures develop the idea in 
a sustained allegory. The first attempt at anything like a detailed 
symbolic representation of " the changes and vicissitudes of life " 
is the well-known Tablet of Cebes, supposed to have been written 
about the fifth century B. C. by Cebes, the friend and disciple of 
Socrates. 

The Tablet is in the form of a dialogue explanatory of an alle- 
gorical picture hung upon the walls of a temple. Three concentric 
circles, separated by walls and communicating through gates, 
represent life. At the outer circle stands a great throng seeking 
to enter, to whom Genius, an old man, holds out a chart of direc- 
tions. At the gate sits a woman named Deceit who gives to all 
that enter a drink called Ignorance and Error. Fortune, blind, 
deaf, and raving mad, stands within the outer circle and tosses 
her gifts promiscuously among the crowd. Behind her stand four 
other women — Incontinence, Profligacy, Greed, and Flattery. 
They watch to see who obtain Fortune's gifts in order that they 
may induce these to live with them. After squandering all of 
their victim's possessions, they deliver him to Retribution and her 
ragged crew — Sorrow, Anguish, Lament, Despair. These torture 
him and cast him into the House of Woe. The only escape is 
through Repentance. 

At the entrance of the second circle stands False Learning. 
The sisters, Temperance and Fortitude, from the summit encourage 
the approaching traveler, telling him to be brave and patient, and 
promising that he will soon find the way easy. Finally the path 
reaches the third circle, where stands True Learning. The traveler 
is welcomed by a band of fair women — Knowledge and her sisters 

99 



100 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

Courage, Righteousness, Honor, Temperance, Order, Liberty, 
Self-Control, Gentleness. They conduct him to their mother, 
Happiness. 1 

A still more striking parallel to the religious allegories of 
Bunyan and Deguileville is a passage in Lucian's Hermotiunis. 
Dr. Adam Clarke was the first to call attention to the similarity 
between this passage and the Pilgrim' 's Progress. 2 The passage 
from Lucian is as follows : " Let Virtue then be a city inhabited 
by none but happy Citizens, such as are perfectly wise, valiant, just, 
temperate, not much inferior even to the Gods themselves. Let 
those crimes too common amongst us, as Rapine, Violence, Avarice 
&c. be not so much as heard of in that City . . . [let the inhabi- 
tants] lead an easy sort of a quiet life, perfectly happy, blessed with 
good Laws, Equality, Liberty, and whatever else is desirable. 

" Hermo. Well then, Lucian, pray is it not reasonable, that all 
People should desire to become inhabitants of such a City ? . . . 

" I/iician. By Jove, Hermotimus, this is above all things to be 
endeavored, without any other consideration ; nor ought any one 
to be here detained, either by an Affection to his Country, or by 
the Entreaties of his Children and Relations ; but those he must 
exhort to go along with him, whom if he finds either incapable or 
unwilling, he must even shake them off, and go himself to that 
Seat of perfect Happiness, nay, tho' they caught hold of his Cloak 
he must leave it and break from them, . . . An innnumerable 
Company of Guides present themselves to you, and assure you, that 
they will conduct you the direct way, for there are abundance who 
pretend themselves Natives of this Place, and ply as it were for 
their Fare. Again, the ways that they would persuade you lead to 
this city, are many, various, and quite different. . . . This leads 
you thro' Meadows, green Herbs, thro' shady Groves, Springs, 
and pleasant Prospects, in which you meet with no rugged uneasy 
way. Whilst another offers you nothing but Rocky, and scarce 

1 Condensed from the outline given by Professor Richard Parsons in pp. 8-11 
of the Introduction to his edition of Cebes' Tablet, Boston, 1897. 

An English translation of Cebes 1 Tablet was made by John Healey in 1616. 

2 Postscript to WetheraWs Life of Bunyan prefixed to The Pilgrim, an Epic Poem, 
by C. C. V. G., 1844. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 101 

possible Roads, with the unpleasant Fatigue of being expos'd to 
the Sun's Heat, Thirst, Hunger, and great Labour and Pain. . . . 
This number and diversity of these ways embarrass me extremely 
and fix me in a perpetual uncertainty, to which nothing contributes 
more than the Guides themselves, who oppose each other with the 
highest Obstinacy, each extolliug their own with a thousand extra- 
vagant Eulogies." * 

It is extremely improbable that Bunyan had ever heard of either 
Cebes' Tablet or Lucian's Hermotimus, although the former has 
several times been mentioned among his possible prototypes. 2 
Nor is it possible to believe that he had any acquaintance whatever 
with Rutebeuf's Vote de Paradis or Raoul de Houdan's Songe 
d'Mifer and Voie de Paradis. That these French allegories were 
known to Deguileville, however, is very probable. True, Deguile- 
ville declares his inspiration came from reading the Roman de la 
Rose, but the resemblance between the PUerinage de V Homme and 
Raoul de Houdan's Voie de Paradis is too close to be thought of 
as a mere coincidence. 3 

It is evident that the specific form of allegory in which life is 
symbolized as a pilgrimage did not originate with Deguileville. 
It had been thought of many centuries before his day. From the 
present chapter it will be seen that during the fifteenth, sixteenth, 
and seventeenth centuries many books were written which either 
treat this specific form of allegory or suggest it, and that in several 
of the former the traces of Deguileville' s influence are unmistakable. 
When, in addition to this fact, we remember how numerous were 
the MS. copies of Deguileville's allegory in both French and 
English, and how frequently the French text had been printed, it 
seems reasonable to ascribe to his influence the popularity of this 
idea. 

In the preceding chapters the allegories most frequently men- 

1 The Works of Lucian, Translated from the Greek by several Eminent Hands, 
with a Life by John Dryden, London, 1711, II, 551 ff. 

2 Parsons, Introduction, p. 5 ; Addison Hogue, "A Greek Pilgrim's Progress," 
Union Seminary Magazine, Richmond, Va., Feb. -March, 1902, pp. 211-224 ; 
Hazlitt's Offspring of Thought in Solitude, pp. 213 ff. 

3 Cf. Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la Langue et de la Literature Francaise des 
Origines d 1900, Paris, 1896, u, 205-207. 



102 The Sources of Bwnyan's Allegories. 

tioned among the .sources of the Pilgrim's Progress have been 
studied. There still remains a long list of books which, either 
from their subject-matter or from their titles, suggest a possible 
connection with the allegories of Bunyan. It is now proposed to 
examine these. Most of them are given in Offor's list (m, 11- 
42), but the outlines which he gives are not always satisfactory. 
The books which proved inaccessible have been marked with an 
asterisk. For the sake of convenience the books have been 
roughly classified under: 1. Non-allegorical works, 2. Allegori- 
cal works. The first division has been again sub-divided into (a) 
Accounts of Pilgrimages — real or imaginary, (b) Religious Homi- 
lies, Pious Meditations; the second into (a) Allegory other than 
that of Pilgrimages, (b) Allegorical Pilgrimages. 

1. NON-ALLEGORICAL WORKS. 

(a) Accounts of Pilgrimages, Real or Imaginary. 

Informacon for Pylgrymcs unto the. Holy Lande. From a rare 
tract in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, 
London, Roxburghe Club, 1824. 
A guide-book for pilgrims to the Holy Land. Minute details 

are given as to prices, provisions, places of interest. Notliing 

allegorical. Offor (in, 23) cites the edition of 1524 printed by 

Wynkin de Worde. 

Erasmus's Pilgrimages to St. Mary of Walsingham and St. Thomas 
of Canterbury ; translated by J. G. Nichols, F. S. A., 1849. 
" It contains much information on the state of the times, and 
the nature and effects of these popular exhibitions, with droll 
accounts of the relics that were exhibited to the besotted votaries. 
. . . Erasmus stigmatizes those who exhibited doubtful relics for 
real — who attribute to them greater value than they are worth, 
or sordidly manufacture them for gain." — Offor, III, 27. 

The Pilgrimage of Princes, penned out of Sundry Greeke and 
Latine authours, by Lodowieke Lloid, Gent. At London. 
Not allegorical. " It is a pilgrimage to the characters and works 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 103 

of princes, which are curiously exhibited. A few are in poetry." — 
Offor, in, 29. 

*Pascha, J., Peregrination Spirituelle verse la terre sainete, 1566, 
and in Dutch, 1576. 
" These are mere hand-books to guide pilgrims to the Holy 
Land."— Offor, m, 28. 

Henry Timberlake, A True and Strange Discourse of the Travailes 
of two English Pilgrimes, London, 1609. 
An account of an actual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 

The Pilgrime of Castecle. Written in Spanish by Lope dc Vega. 
Translated into English, London, 1623. 
An account of the adventures of a lover disguised as a pilgrim. 

Le Pelerin Veritable de la Terre Sainete auquel soubs le Discours 

figure de la Ierusalem Antique et Moderne de la Palestine 

est enseigne le chemin de la Celeste. Au Treschrestien Roy 

de France et de Navarre, Louys Treziesme, Paris, 1615. 

In four books. In the first book the author draws an analogy 

between a pilgrimage to the terrestrial Jerusalem and a pilgrimage 

to the celestial Jerusalem. The three remaining books contain no 

allegory, but are filled with instructions for making a voyage to 

the Holy Land, with descriptions of the Holy Land, with an 

account of the origin and death of Mahomet, &c. 

The Pilgrime of Lorcto. By Fa. Lewis Richeome. Written in 
French and translated into English by E. W. Printed at 
Paris, Anno Dom. MDCXXIX. 
In the dedication, which is addressed " To the Most High and 
Excellent Princesse Mary by God's singular Providence Queen e 
of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland," the author, after de- 
scribing the timidity his Pilgrim felt in appearing before her 
Majesty, continues : " Neither doe I see, Madame, why this Pil- 
grime should feare to come to any Court, or company, seeing he 
cometh euery where but among his fellowes ; for though all be not 
Pilgrimes of Loreto (neither is this booke only, or principally to 
direct such) yet whilest we live in this world, we are ... all Pil- 



104 The Sources of Buny art's Allegoiies. 

grimes, . . . who though they have thousandes of Castles, and Cit- 
ties, yet have they not heere any one Civitatem permanentem . . . 
but futuram inquirimus, we goe seeking one in Heaven, where be 
multae mansiones. Which this Pilgrimage (under the shadow of 
his other Pilgrimage) doth exactly teach us to do, exhorting us, 
with S. Peter, as strangers and Pilgrimes to abstaine from carnall 
desires which fight against the soule, and to seeke the spirituall 
and eternall. ..." 

The analogy is drawn with greater detail in Chapter II of Part 
III. This chapter is entitled, " The Likenes of the Pilgrimage 
of Man's life to the pilgrimage of devotion. The spirituall habits 
of the Pilgrimes." In it we are told that " the pilgrimage ... to 
Loreto, and all others that men make upon the earth, are but figures 
and similitudes of the pilgrimage, that all mortall men do make 
from their birth to their grave, and comparing the figure to the 
truth, he shall find the one most lively expressed and represented 
in the other. The true Pilgrime hath alwayes in his thought the 
place whither he tendeth, he chooseth the shortest and surest way, 
he goeth forward without any markable stay. . . . He endureth 
in towne and field, all the incommodities and dangers of men and 
beasts, contempt, injury, hunger, thirst, want, heat, cold, hail, snow, 
sometyme lying under the house-roofe, sometyme under the cope, 
or canopy of heaven ; sometimes merry and wel disposed, somtime 
againe weary & crazed ; humble, patient, courteous, wise and cir- 
cumspect in all his actions. 

" He shall find all this, point by point practised in the pilgrim- 
age of mans life, by those that are well advised pilgrimes. . . . 

" He shall also allegorize all the parts of his furniture and appa- 
rell, and shall attire his soule to the likenes of his body. For his 
Hat he shall take the assistance of God ; his shooes Shall be the 
mortification of his affections ; Patience shall be his mantle, or 
lether cloake ; Civility shall be his coate or cassocke ; Chastity his 
girdle ; contemplatio and meditation shalbe his bag and bottle ; the 
loue of the Crosse his pilgrimes staffe ; Faith, Charity, and good 
workes shal be his purse and mony, so shall he spiritually attire 
the inward man of the spirit, to the imitation of the Apostle Paul, 
who arming the Christian souldier geueth him his furniture, framed 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 105 

of the stuffe of such like allegories, and armes, forged of the same 
mettal, The shield of Verity, a breast-plate of Justice, shooes of the 
preparation of the Gospell, the buckler of faith, the helmet of salva- 
tion, and the sword of the spirit of God." x 

Among the many suggestions as to the sources of the Pilgrim's 
Progress, this particular passage apparently has never been cited 
— and yet it certainly contains the germ-idea of Bunyan's allegory. 
Not only so, but the arming of the pilgrim is also suggested. The 
way in which the author, in his dedication, personifies his Pilgrim 
is suggestive of the envoys of both Bernard and Bunyan. It is 
also worth noting that in Chapter xxiv of Part v (p. 423) a 
description of heaven is given. 

Summary. 

The books enumerated in this list have to do with real pilgrim- 
ages. One of them, however, Le Pelerin Veritable de la Terre 
Saincte, suggests the allegory of the pilgrimage of human life, 
while a second, The Pilgrime of Loreto, not only suggests, but 
draws somewhat in detail, the analogy between such a pilgrimage 
and the pilgrimage which men actually make to places of devotion. 

(6) Religious Homilies, Pious Meditations. 

*The Myrrour of Lyfe, by William of Nassyngton, 1418. 

" An ancient English poetical treatise on religion ; excepting 
the title, it has no pretence to allegory." — Offor, in, 18. 

Walter Hylton, Scala Perfectionis, London, 1507. 

This book is interesting because it is the source of Patrick's 
Parable of the Pilgrim. Chapter vi of Baker's Sancta Sophia, 
the book from which Patrick tells us he received the sugges- 
tion of his own allegory, is entitled : " A confirmation of what 
hath been said ; particularly of the necessity of a strong Resolu- 
tion and courage to persevere, shewed by the Parable of a Pilgrime 
trauelling to Jerusalem, out of Scala Perfectionis." 2 The Chapter 

1 Quoted from the edition of 1630. 

2 Sancta Sophia or Directions for the Prayer of Contemplation, by F. Augustine 
Baker. Methodically digested by R. F. Serenus Cressy, 2 vols., Doway, 1657. 



106 The Sources of BunyarCs Allegories. 

is, for the most part, a quotation from Chapters xxi-xxiii of 
Hylton's book. These are as follows : ' " There was a man that 
would go to Jerusalem. And because he knew not the way, he 
came to another man that he hoped knew the way better, and 
asked whither he might come to that city. That other man said 
to him that he might not come thither without great disease and 
much travel. For the way is long and perilous and full of great 
thieves and robbers and many other lettings there be that fall to a 
man in the going. And also there are many ways as it seems 
leading thitherward. But meu all day are slain and despoiled and 
may not come to that place that they covet. Nevertheless there is 
one way the which who so taketh it and holdeth it, he will under- 
take that he should come to that city of Jerusalem and he should 
never lose his life nor be slain nor die for default. He should 
often be robbed and evilly beaten and suffer much disease in the 
going, but his life should be safe. Then said the Pilgrim, ' so that 
I may have my life safe and come to that place that I covet to I 
care not what mischief I suffer in going. And therefore tell me 
what thou wilt ' . . . . That other man answereth and saith, ' This 
is the way .... what so thou nearest, seest, or feelest that should 
let thee in the way, abide not with it wilfully, tarry not for it 
wilfully, behold it not, like it not, but ever go forth in thy way 

and think that thou woldest be . at Jerusalem.' (Chap. 

xxn) ' Now art thou in the way and " woost " how thou shalt 
go. Now beware of enemies that will be busy for to let thee, if 
they may, for their intent is for to put out of thy heart that desire 
and longing that thou hast to the love of Jesus, and for to drive 
thee home again to the love of worldly vanity. For there is 
nothing that grieveth them so much. These enemies are princi- 
pally fleshly desires and vain " dredes " that rise out of thine heart 
through corruption of thy fleshly kind . . . Also other enemies 
there are as unclean spirits that are busy with sleights and wiles 
for to deceive thee. But one remedy shalt thou have that I said 
before. What so it be they say, trow them not but hold forth thy 
way . . . and answer ever thus I am nought, I have nought, I 
covet nought but only the love of our Lord.' " 

1 The spelling has been modernized. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 107 

Offor (in, 22) gives a brief outline of the Scala Perfectionis, 
but strangely enough makes no allusion to these chapters. Con- 
cerning its popularity he says : "This was one of the most popular 
of the monkish writings, and so much esteemed in the reign of 
James II., as to have been published by the court to promote the 
influence of popery in these realms ; it was then very much altered, 
and not improved." 

Artus Desire, Les Combatz du jklelle Papiste Pelerin Roma/in contre 
Vcvpostast Priapiste, Rouen, 1550. 
Controversy between papacy and protestantism. 

Artus Desire, Les Batailles et Victoires du Chevalier Celeste contre 
le Chevalier Terrestre, Paris, 1553. 
" Chevalier Celeste " is the Church of Rome, " Chevalier Ter- 
restre " the Heretics at Geneva. 

Viaggio Spirituale. Del R. P. Cornelio Bellanda di Verona, 
Venetia, MDLXXVIII. 
A treatise on penance, confession, mercy of God, &c. 

The Pilgrimage of Man, Wandering in a Wildernes of Woe, London, 
1606. 
In nine chapters, each of which treats of a particular misery, 
e. g., the misery of birth, of youth, of early manhood, of wicked 
kings, of vicious courtiers, of marriage, of age and the terrible 
judgment of God at the last day. 

Leonard Wright, The Pilgrimage to Paradise, London, 1608. 
" Full of sound instruction, but not allegorical." — Offor, in, 29. 

Arthur Dent, The Plaine Man's Pathway to Heaven, Eighteenth 
Impression, 1622. Written about 1590. 
This is one of the few books which Bunyan is hnovm to have 
read, being one of the two which his wife brought as her 
dowry. It is in the form of a dialogue, the interlocutors being 
Theologus a divine, Philagathus an honest man, Asunetus an 
ignorant man, and Antilegon a caviler. Asunetus and Antilegon 
are on their way to a neighbor's to buy a cow. They are entreated 
by Theologus to leave off talking of cows and other worldly matters 



108 The Sources of Bimyan's Allegories. 

and to enter into some speech concerning religion. All four seat 
themselves under the shade of a neighboring oak, and here Theo- 
logus, at the instigation of Philagathus, instructs the other two in 
the principles of religion. Asunetus quakes and trembles at the 
words of Theologus, whereupon his friend Antilegon hastens to reas- 
sure him with the comforting thought that after all he is a very 
decent sort of fellow and does not deserve to be damned. But 
Asunetus is not so easily comforted. " Tush, tush," says Antilegon, 
" now I see you are in a melancholy humour. If you will go home 
with me, I can give you a speedy remedy, for I have many pleasant 
and merry books, which, if you should hear them read, would soon 
remedy you of this melancholy humour. I have the Court of 
Venus, the Palace of pleasure, Bevis of Southampton, Ellen of 
Rnmmin, The merry jest of the Fryer and the boy, The pleasant 
story of Clem of the Clough, Adam Bel, and William of Cloudesley, 
The odd tale of William, Richard, and Humphrey, The pretty 
conceit of John Splinter's last Will & Testament." 

" And shall I tell you my opinion of them," Philagathus asks, 
" I do thus think that they were devised by the Devil, seen and 
allowed by the Pope, printed in Hell, bound up by Hobgoblin, 
and first published and dispersed in Rome, Italy, and Spain." 

While Dent's book contains no allegory, it nevertheless exerted 

. a marked influence upon Buuyan. Many of its homely, pithy 

expressions remind us very forcibly of the great allegorist. Its 

influence is especially noticeable in the Life and Death of Mr. 

Badman. 1 

Abraham Fleming, The Footepaih to Felicitie, which everle Christian 
must walke in, before he can come to the land of Canaan, Lon- 
don, 1581. 
Chapter viii speaks of the two ways shaped like a " y," one 

being the broad way along which many go, the other the strait 

and narrow way traveled by only a few. 

*The Plain Han's Pilgrimage or Journey towards Heaven. By 
W. W[ebster], 1613. 
" First, To set out on the journey, we must get rid of covetous- 

1 See Brown's Life of Bunyan, pp. 55, 317. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 109 

ness. Second, For speed, we must begin young — give God the 
heart, and number our days. We have a long journey to go in a 
short space of time — a day. A short life is like a winter's day ; 
a long life like a day in summer." — Offor, in, 32. 

Robert Hill, The Pathway to Prayer and Pietie, 6th edition, Lon- 
don, 1615. 
An exposition of the Lord's Prayer, directions for a Christian 
life, &c. 

*John Wells, The Soule's Progresse to the Celestiall Canaan, or 
Heavenly Jerusalem. By way of godly meditations and holy 
contemplations, 1639. [Offor, in, 38.] 

* A Spiritual Duel between a Christian and Satan. By H. J., 1646 ; 
with a frontispiece representing a Saint armed, supported 
by Faith, Hope, and Charity, fighting Diabolus, attended by 
Mundus and Caro. Flame is proceeding from the mouth of 
Diabolus. 
" A long and dreary conference between a sinner and Satan, . . . 

not relieved by anything allegorical." — Offor, in, 38. 

The Christian Pilgrime in his Spirituall Conflict and Conquest. 
First published in Spanish by the Reverend Father John 
Castiniza. . . . Afterwards put into the Latine, Italian, 
German, French, and now lastly into the English Tongue, 
according to the Originall Copy. Second edition, Paris, 
MDCLII. 
A book showing how the Christian is to strive for perfection by 

prayer, meditation, and intercession with the Virgin Mary. 

John Reading, A Guide to the Holy City, or Directions and Helps 
to an holy life, Oxford, 1651. 

The Pilgrims Pass to the New Jerusalem, or The Serious Christian 

his Enquiries after Heaven. By " M. R. Gent.," London, 

1659. 

A series of meditations on various passages of Scripture. The 

author's address to his book recalls the envoys of Bernard, 

Patrick, and Bunyan : 



110 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

"To seek the wandering pilgrim, thou must go, 
Poor little book, thy fate will have it so. 
I pity thee, for this censorious age 
Will cause thee have a tedious pilgrimage. 
There's some will think thee rash, others will spy 
In thee a smack of singularity. 
This laughs, and that derides, another scorns, 
A wilderness is not without its thorns. 
Then go, if thy success be not too bad, 
I'll send thee forth, erelong, far better clad." 

Robert Whittell, The Way to the Celestial Paradise, London, 1620. 
The way is through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and prayer. 

Robert Bruen, The Pilgrimes Practice, containing many Godly 
Prayers fitted for Travellers in their Journey towards Spiritucdl 
Canaan, London, 1621. 
A collection of prayers suitable for morning and evening wor- 
ship, for the Sabbath, for a distressed conscience. 

Thomas Taylor, The Pilgrim's Profession, or a Sermon preached at 
the Funcrall of Mrs. Mary Gunter, London, 1633. 
A sermon upon the text " I am a stranger with thee, and a 
sojourner, as all my fathers were" (Psalms, xxxix, 12). Beyond 
the recognition of life as a pilgrimage, there is no allegory. 

Lawrence Bankes, Jacob's Pilgrimage, or the Path of Patience, 1623. 
Spanish Pilgrime, or an admirable Discovery of a Romish Catholicke, 
1625. 
" There is nothing allegorical in these volumes." — Oifor, III, 33. 

Scudder's Christian's Daily Walk, 1625. 
Directions as to how to walk with God. 

James Wadsworth, The English Spanish Pilgrime, or A New Dis- 
coverie of Spanish Popery and, Jesuitical Stratagems, 1630. 
The author, an apostate from the Romish Church, claims to 
reveal the plots of his former associates. 

Thomas Playfere, The Pathway to Perfection, A sermon preached 
at Saint Maryes Spittle in London on Wednesday in Easter 
Weeke, 1593. London, 1597. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. Ill 

* John Hodges, Wholesome Repast for the Soule in her Pilgrimage 
towards Jerusalem which is above, 1638. 
" This is a series of meditations on passages of Holy Writ, 
arranged in the order of the alphabet." — Offor, in, 38. 

Henry Vane, A Pilgrimage into the land of Promise, by the light 
of the vision of Jacob's ladder and faith, 1664. 

Edward Bury, A Help to Holy Walking, or a Guide to Glory, 
London, 1675. 
Directions how to worship God and to walk with Him. 

George Keith, The Way to the City of God, 1678. 

Pious meditations showing how one may attain unto righteousness. 

Christopher Nesse, A Christian's Walk and Work on Earth until 
he attain to Heaven, 2d ed., London, 1678. 

Pierre Berault, Le Veritable et Assure Chemin du Ciel, London, 
MDCLXXI. 
We are bound to obey Christ and Charles II. since each is our 
king by birth, by electiou, and by conquest. The book is in both 
French and English. 

*A Pilgrimage to the Heavenly Jerusalem by a Poor Clare. From 
an ancient MS. belonging to the Bridgettine Nuns of Sion 
House, Spetisbury. [No date.] 

The Path to Paradise, being the Catholic's companion to the most 
adorable sacrament of the Altar, 17th ed., Dublin, 1820. 

The Distressed Pilgrim. [A poem in four stanzas. Without date.] 

The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Hierusalem, Contayninge three hundred 

sixtie Jive dayes lorney, wherein the denote Person may meditate 

on sondrie pointes of his Redemption. [No date. Preface 

is signed R. H.] 

In the preface the allegory of life as a pilgrimage is suggested, 

the author here declaring that " this presente life is no other thinge 

but a continuall Pilgrimage which we are to make upon the earth, . . . 

which when we have faithfully walked, we may come to the Citie 

of heavenly Hierusalem." 



112 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

Summary. 

With two exceptions the books here enumerated contain no 
allegory save in their titles, being for the most part sermons and 
pious homilies. The titles are significant, for in them is frequently 
contained a hint of an allegorical pilgrimage, as, for instance, in 
The Plaine Man's Pathway to Heaven, one of the few books Bunyan 
is known to have read. In one of the books of this list, The Spiritual 
Pilgrimage of Hierusalem, the suggestion of an allegorical pilgrim- 
age is not confined to the title, while in another, Scala Perfectionis, 
the design of a Pilgrim's Progress is outlined with some degree 
of fullness. 

2. ALLEGORICAL WORKS. 

(a) Allegory other than that of Pilgrimages. 

The Abbey of the Holy Ghost. 

This allegory, a dim foreshadowing of the Holy War, is ascribed 
to John Alcocke, the founder of Jesus College, Cambridge. It is 
an allegorical presentation of the fall and redemption of mankind. 
The Abbey, which was conveyed to Adam, Eve, and their heirs 
forever, provided they resisted the temptations of the evil one, is 
situated upon the waters of Mercy. The abbess is named Charity, 
the prioress Wisdom, the sub-prioress Meekness ; the nuns are 
Poverty, Cleanness, Temperance, Soberness, Penance, Buxomness, 
Confession, Righteousness, Predication, Strength, Patience, Sim- 
plicity, Mercy, Largeness, Reason, Piety, Meditation, Orison, 
Devotion, Contemplation, Chastity, Jubilation, Honesty, Courtesy, 
Fear, and Jealousy. While the portress is away, the abbey is 
seized by a tyrant, who puts in charge his four daughters, Pride, 
Envy, False Judgment, and Lust. 1 The abbey is destroyed and 
the former inmates driven away. At last Christ comes, finds the 
abbess and her company, takes them with him to hell, returns with 
Adam, Eve, and all their friends, and replaces them in the Abbey 
of the Holy Ghost in Paradise. 

1 A similar incident occurs in Lydgate's translation of Deguileville' s Pilgrimage 
of Man. See p. 63, above. 



The Sources of Bwiyan's Allegories. 113 

Robert Grosteste, Castellum Amoris ; Le Chateau d' Amour. 
Edited by James Orchard Halliwell, London, 1849. 
" It narrates the creation and fell of man ; the four daughters of 
God — Mercy, Truth, Patience, and Peace — unite to devise the 
means of man's restoration. The divisions are — I. The Prophets 
predict. II. The Saviour is born in the great Palace of Love. 
III. The Palace is described with its keepers. IV. Satan attempts 
to overcome the keepers." — Offor, in, 21. 

* The Pype, or Tonne of the lyfe of perfection, 1532. 

" This is an allegorical work for the instruction of nuns, 
written by the old wretch of Sion [Richard Whytforde] ; and 
although it is not a pilgrimage or a dream, it is a guide to female 
pilgrims. Under the idea of wine being kept in a pipe or tun, is 
represented — 1. The life of perfection, as the wine; 2. Religion, 
the pipe ; 3. Essential vows, obedience, wilful poverty, and chas- 
tity, the staves; 4. Holy rules, the hoops; 5. Ceremonies, the 
wickers, by which the hoops are made fast. If these wickers fail, 
the hoops open, the cask falls to pieces, and the wine is lost ; all 
depends upon the ceremonies. . . . The work is divided into three 
parts: ' Of Obedience,' ' Wylfull Pouertie,' and 'Chastite'; being 
the three great vows made by the nuns to whom it is addressed." 
— Offor, in, 24. 

*Benoist (Father-Confessor to Mary Queen of Scots), le Chevalier 
Chrestien. 
" This is a dialogue between a Christian knight and an infidel, 
whom he attempts to instruct in the knowledge of God and the 
Romish faith. It has cuts representing the knight's horse, and 
the various parts of his armour and habiliments, which are spir- 
itualized."— Offor, in, 29. 

* True Inventory of the Goods and Chattels of Superstition, late of 

the parish of Ignorance, in the county of Blind Devotion, 1642. 

The Last Will and Testament of Sir John Presbyter, who dyed of a 
new Disease called, The particular charge of the Army, 1647. 
A satirical pamphlet of some half-dozen pages. 



114 The Sources of Bunyan' s Allegories. 

*A Dialogue between Life and Death. Very requisite for the con- 
templation of all transitory Pilgrims and pious-minded Chris- 
tians, 1657. 
" This little book consists of only twenty-four leaves, and might 
have been seen by Bunyan as a religious tract previous to his 
writing the Pilgrim's Progress. It contains nothing allegorical as 
to pilgrimages, nor any idea that could have assisted our author in 
composing his great work. It is a Dance of Death, illustrated 
with very rude cuts, and printed with a homely rhyme to each." 
— Offor, in, 39. 

A pleasant Discourse between Conscience and Plain-dealing. Written 
by C. H., London. 
A pamphlet of 24 pages, in which Conscience and Plain-dealing 
give an account of their travels, with special mention of their 
reception in London, where both are comparative strangers. 

Bishop Wo mack, Examination of Tilenus, London, 1658. Re- 
printed in Nichols' Arminianism and Calvinism Compared, 
1824. 
Some one, writing to the Academy (viii, 63), suggests that 
Bunyan may have received a few hints from this book. The only 
allegory in it is the names of the jury : Dr. Absolute, Chairman, 
Mr. Fatality, Mr. Pretention, Mr. Fry-babe, Dr. Dam-man, Mr. 
Narrow-grace alias Stint-grace, Mr. Efficax, Mr. Indefectible, Dr. 
Confidence, Dr. Dubious, Mr. Meanwell, Mr. Simulans, Mr. Take- 
o'-Trust, Mr. Know-little, Mr. Impertinent. If it be admitted 
that Bunyan was familiar with Bernard's Isle of 3 fan, there is not 
the slightest reason for supposing that he received any hints from 
this work. 

Sir David Lyndsay (1490-1555), The Dreme. 

The author describes a dream in which Dame Remembrance 
appears to him and invites him to go with her. They visit hell, 
the planets, heaven, earth, &c. 

William Dunbar (1465 ?-l 530?), The Golden Targe. 

" The poet represents Cupid as steadily repelled by Reason with 
golden targe or shield, till a powder thrown into his eyes over- 
powers him." — Die. Nat. Biog., xvi, 156. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 115 

Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, 1633. 
See above, p. 89, note. 

The Soul's Warfare, Comically digested into Scenes, acted between 
the Soul and her Enemies, Wherein she cometh off Victrix with 
an Angelical Plaudit, London, 1672. [The dedication, 
addressed to Mary Countess of Warwick, is signed " R. T."] 
There is a slight connection between this work and the Holy 
War. The dramatis personae are : Empirea, the Soul ; Cosmus, 
the World ; Profit and Pleasure, her two minions ; Satan ; Lust ; 
Caro, the Flesh ; Reason, Privy Counsellor to Empirea, but dis- 
loyal ; Scandal, Poverty, Sickness — Castigators ; Faith, Hope, 
and Charity — the three theological graces and attendants to 
the Queen Empirea ; Visus, Auditus, Olfactus, Tactus, Gustus. 
The Soul is first tempted by Cosmus, who desires to have Profit 
and Pleasure attend her Highness. The temptation being scorn- 
fully rejected, Satan and Lust plot with Cosmus the destruction of 
Soul. With Reason as their ally and with the aid of Flesh, they 
hope to win Knowledge, President of the Privy Council, to their 
side, and to render Will neutral. Disappointed in this they seek 
Soul's destruction by tempting the five senses, but Empirea, aided 
by Faith, again withstands them. The last attempt is to over- 
come her by means of Slander, Poverty, and Sickness, but Soul is 
supported by Faith, Hope, and Charity. The Epilogue describes 
the joy of the angels over Soul's victory. 

Summary. 

These books, while allegorical, contain no suggestion of an 
allegorical pilgrimage. A dim fore-shadowing of the Holy War 
can be traced in the Abbey of the Holy Ghost and the Soul's War- 
fare. The trial-feature, so prominent in Bernard's Isle of Han 
and introduced by Bunyan in both the Pilgrim's Progress and 
Holy War, appears in Bishop Womack's Examination of Tilenus. 



116 The Sources of Bimycm's Allegories. 



{!>). Allegorical Pilgrimages. 

The History of Graund Amoure ami La Bel Pucel catted The Pas- 
time of Pleasure, Oonteyning the knowledge of the Seven Science* 
and the Course of Mom's Life in this Worlde. Invented by- 
Stephen Hawes, Grome of Kyng Henry the Seventh his 
chamber. Anno Domini, 1555. [Edited by T. Richards for 
the Percy Society, vol. xviii, 1846.] 
A knight named Graund Amoure sets out in search of a lady 
named La Bel Pucel. Walking through a meadow he comes to 
the paths of contemplative life and of active life. He chooses 
the path of active life. He is soon met by a lovely lady on horse- 
back. She is called Fame and the two grey-hounds that follow 
her, Governance and Grace. She describes to the Knight the 
charms of La Bel Pucel and instructs him how to obtain her, at 
the same time warning him of the many dangers he must first 
undergo. Following her directions he comes to the tower of Doc- 
trine, into which he is admitted by the portress named Countenance. 
Dame Reason is the marshal of this tower, Temperance the chief 
cook, Fidelity the lady chamberlain, Liberality the high steward. 
From the tower of Doctrine he is sent to Grammar, Logic, Rhet- 
oric, and finally to Music. In the temple of Music he meets with 
La Bel Pucel, with whom he falls desperately in love. She in 
turn acknowledges her love for him, but tells him that he must 
face many dangers before he can hope to win her. In order to 
prepare for these perils he goes to the tower of Chivalry, and is here 
knighted and equipped with armor. Upon leaving the tower of 
Chivalry, he is accompanied by the knights Fidelity, Fortitude, 
Consuetude, Justice, Misericorde, Sapience, Courtesy, Nurture, and 
Concord. The Knight now meets with many adventures. After 
slaying a giant with three heads, he encounters another with the 
seven heads of Dissimulation, Delay, Discomfort, Variance, Envy, 
Detraction, Doubleness. At length he is married to La Bel Pucel 
and with her lives happily until the coming of Age, who brings 
with him Avarice and Policy. Then Death approaches, and the 
Knight's soul is sent to Purgatory. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 117 

The Pastime of Pleasure bears some resemblance to Deguileville's 
Pilgrimage of Man. The two paths of contemplative and of active 
life are strikingly similar to Deguileville's two paths of Idleness and 
of Occupation ; the lovely lady, Fame, who directs the Knight 
how to win La Bel Pucel, recalls Grace Dieu, Pilgrim's guide ; the 
equipment of the Knight with armor at the tower of Chivalry finds 
a counterpart in the equipment of Pilgrim with armor *at the 
house of Grace Dieu ; the Knight's encounter with the giant 
having the seven heads of Dissimulation, Delay, Discomfort, 
Variance, Envy, Detraction, and Doubleness, is paralleled by Pil- 
grim's encounter with the seven hags — Sloth, Pride, Envy, &c. ; 
the coming of Age and of Death is similarly described in both 
allegories. 

* Peregrinatio Scholastica, or Learninges Pillgrimadge. Containeinge 
the Straunge Aduentures, and Various Entertainements, he 
founde in his trauailes towards the Shrine of Latvia. Composede 
and deuised into Severall Morrall Tractates by John Daye, 
Cantabr. 1 

*Geiler von Kaisersberg, Christliche Pilgerschaft zum ewigen Voter- 
land, 1512. 
" As Bunyan seems to have learnt something from the Anabap- 
tists, 2 this German ' pilgrimage to the everlasting Fatherland ' 
might possibly have indirectly influenced him" — Chambers, 
Cyclopaedia of English Literature, London and Edinburgh, 1901, 
i, 722. 

Gawin Douglas (1474 ?-l 522), The Palice of Honour and King Hart. 
" The theme of the ' Palice ' is the career of the virtuous man, 
over manifold and sometimes phenomenal difficulties, towards the 
sublime heights which his disciplined and well-ordered faculties 
should enable him to reach. ... It is manifest that he [Douglas] 
has read Chaucer and Langland, but he likewise gives certain 
fresh features of detail that anticipate both Spenser and Bunyan. 3 

1 See Henry J. Todd, The Works of Spenser, London, 1805, n, p. exxv. 

2 In addition to the articles of Heath mentioned above (p. 4), see also E. Belfort 
Bax, Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists, London and New York, 1903, pp. 368, 379-381. 

3 Cf. Chambers, Encyclopedia of Literature, Boston, 1855, i, 44. 



118 The Sowces of Bunyan's Allegories. 

The poem is a crystallisation of the chivalrous spirit, in the 
enforcement of a strenuous moral law and a lofty but arduous line 
of conduct. ' King Hart ' likewise embodies a drastic and whole- 
some experience. It is a presentation of the endless conflict 
between flesh and spirit, in which the heart, who is king of the 
human state, knoweth his own trouble, and is purged as if by 
fire."— Die. Nat. Biog., xv, 294. 

William Langland, The Vision of William concerning Piers the 
Plowman. 
" I am inclined to think that we owe to Piers Plowman, an 
allegorical work of the same wild invention from that other creative 
mind, the author of Pilgrim's Progress. How can we think of 
the one, without being reminded of the other? Some distant 
relationship seems to exist between the Ploughman's Doioell and 
Dobet and Dobest, Friar Flatterer, Grace, the Portress of the 
magnificent Tower of Truth, viewed at a distance, and by its side 
the dungeon of Care, Natural Understanding, and his lean and 
stern wife Study, and all the rest of this numerous company, and 
the shadowy pilgrimage of the ' Immortal Dreamer ' to the 
1 Celestial City.' Yet I would mistrust my own feeling, when 
so many able critics, in their various researches after a prototype 
of that singular production, have hitherto not suggested what 
seems to me obvious." — Isaac Disraeli, Amenities of Literature, 
New York, 1871, i, 219-220. 

Le Peregrin : traictat de Vhonneste & pudique amour, par pure et 

sincere Vertu. Traduict de vulgaire Italien en langue Fra- 

coyse par maistre Fracoys Dassy, secretaire du roy de Navarre. 

[This is a translation of J. Cavice's Libi'O del Peregrino, the 

date of which, according to Brunet, is 1508. The translation 

cited by Offor is dated 1528.] 

" The pilgrim, a native of Ferrara, at the age of twenty-two 

years on May-day, attended to hear a Dominican friar preach. 

Divine love lay in ambush, and the eloquence of the preacher 

pierced his heart. . . . Under the character of a lady named 

Geneure, the daughter of Angiolo (the Virgin Mary, queen of 

angels), to that time unknown to him, is personated that which 



The Sources of Bwn/yan's Allegories. 119 

alone can cure his wounded spirit. This lady is very wise and 
modest, young, but ancient in prudence, and very difficult to 
obtain. He becomes very desirous of obtaining her, and his 
pilgrimage is made with this object. Through the aid of Geneure's 
nurse, Violante, he corresponded with her, and sought an inter- 
view. He is directed to a subterraneous passage, by which he 
hopes secretly to reach her house in the night ; but mistakes the 
chamber, and enters that of another young lady, named Lyonore 
(the lioness), the daughter of Petruccio (the thirty), and mistook 
her for Geneure." Geneure is greatly distressed upon learning 
of the pilgrim's supposed treason. She threatens to enter a nun- 
nery. " The pilgrim, before Geneure entered upon her noviciate, 
met her accidentally at church, and proposes marriage, his faults are 
forgiven, they become united, and pass their time in great happi- 
ness, until death separated them." — Offor, in, 23. 

The Pylgrimage of Perfection. Imprinted at London ... by 

Richarde Pynson, . . . Anno Domini, 1526. [Ascribed to 

William Bond.] 

The Prologue contains the suggestion of a pilgrim's progress : 

" This treatyse called the pilgrimage of perfection is distincte and 

diuyded into thre bokes . . . The first boke sheweth generally 

howe ye lyfe of every cristian is as a pilgremage : which we vowe 

and promesse in our baptyme takyng on us the iourney to the 

heuenly Jerusalem." The Pylgrimage of Perfection contains very 

little allegory. 

Whitney's Choice of Emblemes. A facsimile edition by Henry 

Green, London, 1866. 
Quarles' Emblems, ed. by George Offor, London, 1823. 

A form of composition which became very popular during the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was that of emblem-writing. 
In this particular field no one enjoyed greater popularity than did 
Geoffrey Whitney, whose book — Emblemes mid Other Devises, 
gathered, Englished, and moralized, and diver'se newly Devised — 
was published in Holland in 1585. One of the emblems of this 
collection, entitled "The Pilgrim," was pointed out by James 



120 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

Montgomery in 1827 * as the work which "might perhaps have 
inspired the first idea " of the Pilgrim's Progress. 

Montgomery repeats the suggestion in his Essay of the follow- 
ing year, and adduces the following points in its support: "The 
emblem represents a Pilgrim leaving the world (a geographical 
globe) behind, and journeying toward the symbol of the Divine 
name, in glory, at the opposite extremity of the scene. Now, iu 
the old editions of the Pilgrim's Progress, the very first print of 
Christian with his back on ' the city of Destruction,' traveling 
towards ' the Wicket Gate ' so nearly resembles the former, that it 
might have been assumed at once that the designer had Whitney's 
emblem in his eye, had not the Author himself apparently had the 
same in Jus eye when he wrote the scene of Christian's setting out. 
For when Evangelist directing him whither he must flee, asks him, 
' Do you see yonder Wicket-gate ? ... go up directly thereto,' if 
our Author had had Whitney's picture before him, he could not 
more accurately have copied it in words. It is remarkable also 
that the verses under Whitney's print are accompanied with the 
marginal note — 'Peregrin us Christianas loquitur' which Bunyan's 
ingenuity might easily have turned into 'Christian, the Pilgrim, 
speaks* ; and thus elicited the name of his hero. Nor is this con- 
jecture so far-fetched as it may at first appear ; for he could cer- 
tainly learn from some person the meaning of the marginal words. 
. . . Another slight circumstance may be mentioned : — though 
Whitney's Pilgrim does not carry a burthen, in a preceding print, 2 
a man is represented swimming from a shipwreck, with a burthen 
bound upon his back precisely as Christian's is in the prints of the 
old editions." 

The words of Whitney's emblem are as follows : 3 

Super est Quod supra est. 

Adewe deceiptfull worlds, thy pleasure I detest : 

Now others with thy shoives delude; my hope in heaven doth rest. 

1 The Christian Poet, Glasgow, 1827, p. 88. 
2 Green's Facsimile Edition, p. 179. 
3 Ibid. p. 225. 



The Sources of Buwyan's Allegories. 121 



Inlarged as folloiveth. 

Even as a flower, or like vnto the grasse, 

Which now dothe stande, and straight with sithe dotli fall, 

So is our state : now here, now hence wee passe : 

For Time attendes with shredding sithe for all. 

And Deathe at lengthe, both oulde, and yonge, doth strike : 

And into dust dothe turne vs all alike. 

Yet, if wee marke how swifte our race doth ronne, 
And waighe the cause, why wee created bee : 
Then shall wee know, when that this life is donne, 
Wee shall bee sure our countrie right to see. 
For, here wee are but straungers, that must flitte : 
The nearer home, the nearer to the pitte. 

O happie they, that pondering this arighte, 

Before that here their pilgrimage bee past, 

Resigne this worlde : and marche with all their miglite 

Within that pathe, that leades where ioyes shall last. 

And whilst they maye, there, treasure vp their store, 

Where, without rust, it lastes for euermore. 

This worlde must chaunge : That worlde shall still indure : 
Here, pleasures fade : There, shall they endlesse bee : 
Here, man doth sinne : And there, hee shalbee pure : 
Here, deathe hee tastes : And there, shall neuer die. 
Here, hath hee griefe : And there shall ioyes possesse, 
As none hath seene, nor anie harte can gesse." 

" The Pilgrim," one of the poems in Francis Quarles' collection 
of Emblems, 1 contains the same idea. It may be found also in 
" The Pilgrimage " — one of the poems in The Temple of George 
Herbert, and in a poem of Sir Walter Kaleigh, entitled "The 
Pilgrimage." 

Spenser's Faerie Queene. 

Attention has often been called to the fact that the Faerie 
Queene and the Pilgrim's Progress have certain features in common. 
These resemblances have all been brought together in the two 
studies mentioned above (pp. 3-4), — the dissertation of Otto Kotz 
and the article contributed by " L. A. H." to the Methodist Quar- 
terly Review. Among the most striking parallelisms adduced are : 
the houses of Holiness and Pride and the Palace Beautiful ; the 

1 Offor's edition, London, 1823, Book IV, No. 2. 



122 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

entertainment of the Red Cross Knight at the house of Holiness 
by Dame Caelia and her daughters, Faith, Hope, and Charity, 
and the entertainment of Christian at the Palace Beautiful by 
Discretion, Piety, Prudence, and Charity; the encounter of the 
Red Cross Knight with the Dragon and Christian's encounter 
with Apollyon ; the visit of the Red Cross Knight to the Cave of 
Despair and Christian's imprisonment by Giant Despair in 
Doubting Castle. 

Many of the resemblances between Spenser and Bnnyan cited 
by Kotz could be easily paralleled from other allegories. For 
instance, the view of the new Jerusalem accorded the Red Cross 
Knight from the hill Contemplation finds its analog, not only in 
the Pilgrim's Progress, but also in Deguileville's Pilgrimage of 
Man, Cartheny's Voyage of the Wandering Knight, and Patrick's 
Parable of the Pilgrim, while Bernard's "Apology" in the Isle of 
3Ian is far more probably the prototype of Bunyan's "Apology" 
than is Spenser's letter to Sir Walter Raleigh. Possibly no inci- 
dents in the Pilgrim's Progress resemble the Faerie Quecne more 
closely than the description of Christian's entertainment at the 
Palace Beautiful and his subsequent encounter with Apollyon. 
Yet these are paralleled just as closely by Deguileville's descrip- 
tion of Pilgrim's reception at the house of Grace Dieu and his 
later encounter with Rude Entendement. To most students the 
resemblances between the two allegories will not appear sufficiently 
distinctive to establish the fact of Bunyan's indebtedness to 
Spenser. 

David Lindsey, The Godly Man's Journey to Heaven: Containing 
Ten Severall Treatises. (1) An Heauenly Chariot the first 
part. (2) An Heauenly Chariot the second part. (3) The 
blessed Chariots Man. (4) The Lanthorne for the Chariot. 
(5) The Skilfull Chariot Driuer. (G) The garde of the 
Chariot. (7) The sixe Robbers of the Chariot. (8) The 
Three Rocks layd in the Way. (9) The onely Inne Gods 
babes aime at. (10) The Guests of the Inne. London, 1625. 
The sovereign coachmaster is that blessed Spirit of the Father 

and of his dearest son Jesus Christ ; the lantern is the Old and 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 123 

New Testament ; the skilful driver, the ministers of God ; the 
robbers, the Popish Seminary ; the rocks, abuse of God's holy 
Predestination and Election, abuse of God's grace, the outward 
profession of religion ; the inn to which the " Babes of God " are 
borne is the New Jerusalem ; the guests, those who are true 
Christians. 

The Penitent Pilgrim, London, 1641. Reprinted in Pickering's 
Christian Classics, 1847, pp. 1-257. [Ascribed to R. 
Braithwait.] 
This book contains comparatively little allegory. Pride, Cove- 
tousness, Lechery, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth, under 
cover of lodging with Pilgrim as his guests, seek his undoing. 
By their treacherous assault, his " Cinque Ports " — Sight, Hear- 
ing, Smell, Taste, and Touch — are endangered. In his affliction 
he receives promise of help from Faith, Hope, and Charity. At 
length, wearied with his sojourn in Idumea, he enters the land of 
Canaan. 

The booke of the pylgrymage of man. 

Below the title is a wood-cut representing a pilgrim with a staif 
in one hand and a clasped book in the other. The second page 
reads : " Here begynneth a boke in Frenche called le pelerynage 
de Lhomme / in latyn peregrinatio humani generis / & in oure 
Maternal tunge the pylgrymage of mankynd of late drawen and 
incompendiouce prose copounded by the reuerent father in god dane 
william hendred l Prioure of the honourable place and pryory of 
Leomynstrc / And now newly at the specyal comaundement of the 
same Father reuerent I have compyled the tenure of the same in 
Metre comprehended in xxvi Chaptours as ensuynge appereth." 2 

The actual pilgrimage does not begin until the eleventh chap- 
ter. The pilgrim chooses for a guide Beatus Vir. They first 
come to a castle called Corpus Christi. Thence they go to a 
" comely gay monastery," which was the monastery of St. John, 

1 Offor (hi, 15, note 2 ), misled by the identity of the titles, confounds William 
Hendred with Guillaume de Deguileville. 

2 The book was printed by Richard Faques. It is extremely rare. The only 
copy I have been able to discover is in the library of Queen's College, Oxford. 



124 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

the Baptist. They next proceed to the saintly abbey of St. Benet, 
and then to the monastery of St. Matthew. Finally they reach 
the abbey of the Holy Ghost, where their pilgrimage ends. 

With the exception of the title, this poem is totally unlike 
Deguileville's Pelerinage de V Homme. So far as the subject-matter 
goes, there is little or no connection between the two. OfFor 
(itt, 15, note 1) queries whether this may not be Skelton's trans- 
lation mentioned above, p. 15. 

Artus Desire, Le Grand Chemin Celeste de la Makon de Dieu, 
pour tous vrays Pelerins Celestes, traversans les desertz de ce 
monde, et des ehoses necessaires & requlses pour paruenir au 
port de Salut, Paris, 1565. 
To pass comfortably through this life do not burden yourself 
with a heavy garment lined with vain-glory, but clothe yourself 
in the mantle of patience. Wear a beautiful hat of honor, youth, 
and abstinence for protection against the heat of carnal concu- 
piscence. When going over bad passages, support yourself on the 
staff of the cross. Lodge nowhere save in the holy Roman Church, 
which was founded by God many years ago. The rest of the 
poem describes in detail the pilgrim's outfit : cloak, hat, staff, bag 
in which to carry the bread, bottle for the wine, &c. 

A Spiritual Journey of a Young Man, toward the Land of Peace, 

to live therein Essentially in God, who met in his Journey with 

three sorts of disputes. Translated out of Dutch, London, 

1659. 

The three " disputations " are between Old Age and Childhood, 

between the Wisdom of the Flesh and the Simplicity of Christ, 

between the Lust and Pleasure of this World and the Lust or 

Desire to God. These are followed by the proverbs of Old Age 

addressed to Youth, the round dance of the vain heathenish Lusts, 

and finally a conference between Old Age and Youth. 

*Philothea's Pilgrimage to Perfection. Described in a Practice of 
Ten Days' Solitude. By Brother John of the Holy Cross, 
Frier Minour. Bruges, 1668. 
" The pilgrim's name is ' Philothea ' . . . The journey is 

divided into ten days' solitary employment, that the pilgrim might 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 125 

be ravished into the heavenly paradise ... To attain this, very- 
minute directions are given as to time, place, posture of body, 
method, choice of a guide, &c. . . . Her exercises are to be 
vocal prayer, reading spiritual books, corporal mortifications, 
and manual labour ; use only one meal a day ; to this, add a hair 
cloth next the skin, and occasional floggings." — Olfor, in, 39-40. 

The Situation of Paradise Found Out ; Being an History of a late 
Pilgrimage unto the Holy Land, London, 1683. 
The pilgrim's guide is Theosophus, who, after many futile 
attempts to restore the former purity of the church, retires into 
the country. The church of Christ is driven by a storm from the 
North into the wilderness. From the top of a mountain the pil- 
grim with the aid of a telescope sees the sin and folly of the world. 
The book ends with a vision of Tophet. 

The trauayled Pylgreme, bringing newes from all partes of the 
worlde, such like scarce harde of before, 1569. 

This rare volume, the work of Stephen Batman, is in verse, 
and is interspersed with numerous wood-cuts. These, eighteen iu 
number, are accompanied with explanatory matter. 

The Author, arming himself with the sword of Courage and the 
shield of Hope, mounts his horse Will and sets out to win for 
himself prowess. After two days of riding he comes to " a goodly 
green " called Worldly Pleasure. Here he meets a powerful 
knight, huge and great of body, whose command to yield he 
straightway obeys. The name of the knight is Disagreement. 
To test the Author's strength, the kuight knocks him down with 
his spear, which was shod with little Wit. They then fight with 
swords until the coming on of night, when the Author is glad 
enough to quit. He finds one who refreshes him with the bread 
of Life and the cup of Health, and whose name he afterwards learns 
is Understanding. The latter advises him to take Reason as his 
guide, and warns him against Debility and Dolor. After supper 
the Author is allowed to sleep in the bed of Rest. In the morn- 
ing he is led by Obedience to the house of Reason. 

"Justice justly there did judge, botli matters right and wrong, 
Fortitude and strength, also with Lone, sang there hir song. 



126 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

Whose notes surpassed the Nightingale, she did me so enflame, 
That I desired still to heare the sweete and pleasant Dame. 
She hight the loue of Gods word pure, his name she still did prayse, 
Both night and day at no time ceast, still lauding all true wayes. 
There Temperance sate, and Faith also, with Charitic and Hope, 
Ech one with other there did sit, and Concorde set the note." 

His horse Will, sparing neither dale nor hill in the field of 
Worldly Pleasure, runs with such force that the Author's arms 
and hands are made to ache in his efforts to restrain him. He is 
now met by another knight, riding a horse called Paine. In the 
fight that ensues the Author is overcome. His antagonist, he 
learns, is Age, whom every one traveling through the plain of 
Time must encounter. After many admonitions from Age he 
resumes his journey, and soon comes to an obscure path called 
Deceit or Guile. But for Remembrance he would have forgotten 
the promises made to Age and would have allowed himself to be 
won by Deceit. 

Escaping this danger, he next reaches a beautiful palace in 
which he sees "fresh ladies fit for Pan." The building is the 
"world both fresh and gay," the damsels the fell vices which 
infect man's heart. Desire urges him to enter the palace, good 
Memory to remain without. Her counsel is taken and passing on 
he soon comes to the bleak and barren desert of old Age. Here 
he sees a marvelous sight. By painting their faces, wearing gay 
attire, &c, Dames Daintie, Littlewit, Flattrie, Meretrix, Fling- 
braine, Ire and Idell, Discord and Pickthanke, Beldame Coy and 
Maistresse Nice — vainly attempt to resist Age. The Author is 
greatly perplexed as to how he shall find his way out of this 
desert place, when to his great joy he sees in the path ahead of 
him Dame Memory, who had of late gone from him. A long 
digression is made at this point, in which the Author describes a 
battle he witnessed between King Henry VIII and Debility, and 
between Edward VI and Debility. Resuming his journey in 
company with Memory he reaches the island of Consumption, 
where dwell the champions — Distrust, Dispaire, Disdaine. He 
and Memory seek lodgings in a place called Hoped Time. They 
are provided by one True Zeal with a chamber called Paine. 
Reason comes to his bed and bids him be not dismayed since 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 127 

faithful friends, such as Faith, Hope, and Charity, will attend 
him. Reason, however, can not deliver him from Death, for no 
living man can hope to escape him. Thanatos appears and the 
Author yields without any resistance. 

The trauayled Pylgreme contains traces of both Cartheny's 
Voyage of the Wandering Knight and Deguileville's Pilgrimage 
of Man. The arming of the Author recalls the arming of Deguile- 
ville's Pilgrim ; the Author's fight with Disagreement, the encounter 
Pilgrim has with Rude Entendement ; the attendance of Dame 
Memory, the atteudance of Memory upon Pilgrim ; the fight of 
the Author with Old Age and his surrender to Death, the attack 
upon Pilgrim of Old Age and the approach of Death ; the house 
of Reason, the house of Grace Dieu. 

The traces of Cartheny's allegory are even more apparent. The 
horse Will is parallel with the horse Temerity ; the plain of Worldly 
Pleasure and the ladies at the Palace of Disordered Livers x with 
the Palace of Worldly Felicity and the ladies whom the Knight 
there finds ; the house of Reason with the school of Repentance 
or the Palace of Virtue ; while Remembrance and Understanding 
are common to both allegories. 

The allegory also shows a few features peculiar to the Pilgrim's 
Progress. The Author after his fight with Disagreement is 
refreshed "with the Bread of Life and the Cup of health" by 
one whose name is Understanding. After Christian's fight with 
Apollyon " there came to him a hand, with some of the leaves of 
the tree of life, the which Christian took, and applied to the 
wounds that he had received in the battle, and was healed imme- 
diately. He also sat down in that place to eat bread, and to drink 
of the bottle that was given him a little before ; so being refreshed, 
he addressed himself to his journey." 2 The Author is allowed 
" to sleep in the bed of Rest," Christian at the Palace Beautiful 
was put " in a large upper chamber . . . the name of the chamber 

1 So called in the wood-cut representing the Author's arrival at the palace. The 
title of the 12th chapter of Cartheny's allegory, describing the Knight's stay at the 
Palace of Worldly Felicity, reads : "The Author declareth how the Wandering 
Knight and such voluptuous livers in this world transgress the ten commandments." 

2 Off or, in, 114. 



128 The Sources of fiunyan's Allegories. 

was Peace." The "obscure path called Deceit or Guile" finds a 
counterpart in Banyan's "By-path Meadow." Such personifica- 
tions as Faith, Hope, and Charity, and the more unusual name — 
Pick-thank — are common to both. 

Mundorum ExpliccMo, or The Explanation of an Ificrogli/jJiical 
Figure : wherein are couched the mysteries of the External, 
Internal, and Eternal Worlds, showing the true progress of 
a Soul from the Court of Babylon to the City of Jerusalem ; 
from the Adamical fallen state to the Regenerate and Angeli- 
cal. Being a Sacred Poem, written by S. P. Armig., London, 
1661. [Re-issued in 1663.] 
The authorship of this poem is usually assigned to Samuel Por- 
dage, whom Dry den in the second part of Absalom and Achitophel 
described as, " Lame Mephibosheth, the wizard's son." The Die. 
Nat. Biog. (xlvi, 151), however, is disposed to question Pordage's 
authorship of the Mundorum Explicatio, since " its contents are 
entirely unlike anything else which he wrote." 

The poem is divided into three parts. The first part contains 
no allegory, being descriptive of the various orders of worlds, of 
the astral and subterraneal spirits, &c. The allegorical pilgrimage 
begins with p. 125 of Part II. 

"That we may shew more plain unto your eyes 
Tins milky way that leads to Paradise, 
We will suppose ( as in the darker sphear 
We did, so now we will exhibit here 
One as) a Pattern, by whose foot-steps ye 
May view the way unto Aeternity." 

The Pilgrim, having tried many ways and having found them 
false, prays to the " Glorious Prince of Light " to send him a 
guide. In answer to his prayer a heavenly courtier of dazzling 
beauty is sent. Taking the Pilgrim under the covert of his wing, 
he brings him to a valley surrounded by high rocks. This, he 
declares, represents the world, out of which the Pilgrim must find 
his own way. He himself, though invisible, will be ready to 
lend assistance. 

Left alone Pilgrim falls asleep. He is awakened by an angel 
with an angry countenance. The name of this angel is Conscience, 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 129 

and with a goad he pricks Pilgrim until the latter fully aroused 
from his lethargy cries " What shall I do ? Oh ! I cann't bear 
this pain ! " As he thus runs back and forth, grievously tormented, 
he sees a little shining light on his right hand and there finds a 
passage from the valley. His way is blocked by a river, in the 
midst of which is seen a man clothed in a rough jacket of camel's 
hair. This man is John the Baptist, who tells him that the only 
way to the New Jerusalem is through this river. He leaps in 
and at once feels as if unburdened of a heavy weight. 

Two sisters, Faith and Hope, are now sent to act as guides. 
They briug him to a kind of paradise called God's Free-grace. 
All his surroundings are so pleasant that Pilgrim again falls asleep. 
Upon awaking he finds himself alone. He is led by a dame called 
Misapprehension to the Bower of Deceit where many are chained 
to the seats of security. 1 Just as he is on the point of sittiug 
down, his tutelar angel appears, and inquires how he had got into 
this false path and what has become of his guides. Pilgrim con- 
fesses his fault, and falling prostrate on the ground begs for pardon. 
Immediately he espies Grace descending and with her a troop of 
heavenly nymphs. Grace thus greets him : 

' ' I Queen am of that place of such delight, 
Whose heavenly Beauty recreates the sight 
Of all that enter there, and now I come 
To let you see unto Jerusalem 
The heav'nly, the true Way." 

Calling the nymph Apocalypsis to bring the scroll in which may 
be seen the city of Jerusalem, Grace rubs Pilgrim's eyes with the 
salve of Purity and bids him look. No pen could tell its won- 
derful beauties. By veiling its brightness Grace permits him to 
catch a glimpse of the way thither. This way, he perceives, lies 
over rocks, through valleys, by dark caves, precipices, steep and 
stony places. Strong watchmen keep the passages ; a thousand 
dangers show themselves along the way. Pilgrim is led by Grace 
back to the path from which he had wandered, and here he finds 

'Those who sit in the "Seats of Security" have been told by False- persuasion 
that regeneration is complete and that "they could not fall from Grace." 



130 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

Faith and Hope. Three additional guides are chosen by Grace, — 
Aletheia, Vigilantia, and Humility. 

Proceeding on his journey, Pilgrim comes to a narrow gate — 
the Gate of Circumcision. The World, the Flesh, and the Devil 
strive to keep him from entering. These being beaten back, Satan 
attempts to make his will revolt. The Senses, the Passions, and 
the Flesh, all unite against him. In agony of soul he cries for 
help. Grace straightway appears, and at once his enemies flee. 
He is attacked by Lust, but rescued by Chastity. Then he is met 
by Wrath, wearing a helmet of Insolence, and a belt of Arrogance 
from which hung Ambition. 

' ' On his lofty crest he wore 
A scaly Dragon, on his breast he bore 
A Tun of Iron : the neighbouring Rocks he down 
Kickt, that he might to walk have elbow-room. 
He opes his mouth the Postern Gate of Hell 
And these words bellows with a rending yell. 
Where goes this Dwarf? did'st never hear of me? 
My name is Wrath, my left hand Cruelty ; 
My right is Power, to which all Hell below 
Obeys : with which these Rocks like Balls 1 throw. 
And what art thou ? Poor Pigmee ! if I list, 
To atoms I can crush thee with my fist. 
Dost thou know what thou dost ? We did this Way 
Prohibit men : how darst thou disobey ? ' ' 

Upon hearing these words, Pilgrim thinks himself as good as 
dead. He is saved by the intervention of Meekness. His next 
encounter is with an old hag, Envy, who did fly with the scaly 
wings of Dragons — Detraction and Jealousy. From her he is 
delivered by Charity. Other allegorical characters are introduced 
such as Zeal, Prudence, Sophia. The last is given him for a 
spouse. At length he meets Death, by whom he is willing to be 
slain. 

The Mundorum Explicatio contains several features found in 
Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man. These are : 

(1). The river of baptism. 

(2). The meeting with Grace, who gives Pilgrim much assistance 
on his journey. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 131 

(3). The encounter with Wrath, from whom he is delivered by 
Meekness. 1 

(4). The encounter with Lust. Cf. the encounter of Deguile- 
ville's Pilgrim with the hag Venus. 

(5). The Meeting with the old hag Envy, who did fly with the 
scaly wings of Dragons — Detraction and Jealousy. In Deguile- 
ville's Pilgrimage the old hag Envy is described as creeping on the 
ground like a dragon on all fours, with the two hags Treason and 
Detraction riding upon her back. 

(6). The encounter with Death. 

In the Pilgrim's Progress the nearest parallel to Pilgrim's 
encounter with Wrath is Christian's encounter with Apollyon. 
The wandering of the Pilgrim from the right way and his allowing 
himself to be led by Dame Misapprehension to the Bower of Deceit, 
recalls By-path Meadow and Giant Despair. The falling asleep 
of the Pilgrim and the loss of his guides suggest the falling asleep 
of Christian in the arbor and the loss of his roll. The Pilgrim's 
guides are Faith and Hope ; Christian's companions are Faithful 
and Hopeful, the latter joining him after the death of Faithful. 
The vision which Grace gives the Pilgrim of the heavenly Jeru- 
salem finds a counterpart in both Bunyan's and Deguileville's 
allegories. 

The Travels of True Godliness, from the beginning of the World 
to this Present Day, in an apt and pleasant Allegory. Shew- 
ing the Troubles, Oppositions, Reproaches, and Persecutions 
he hath met with in every Age. The fifth edition, London, 
1684. Printed for John Dun ton. 

The Progress of Sin, or The Travels of Ungodliness, by the Author 

of The Travels of True Godliness. London, 1684. Printed 

for John Dunton. 

These two books, printed by the eccentric John Dunton, were 

the work of Benjamin Keach. They were written, it seems, after 

Bunyan's Holy War, to which they show some resemblance. 2 The 

1 In the first recension of the Pilgrimage of Man Wrath is pictured as an old hag, 
but in the second recension as a man, just as in this poem. 

2 See Crosby's History of the English Baptists, London, 1740, IV, 310-311. 



132 The Sources of liunyan's Allegories. 

chief source of Keach's inspiration, however, is undoubtedly Ber- 
nard's Isle of Man. 

In the first allegory, True Godliness, having received a commis- 
sion to travel, comes to a certain town on the confines of Babylon 
where dwelt a man named Riches. The servants of Riches — Pre- 
sumption, Pride, Unbelief, Ignorance, Malice, Vain-Hope, and 
Covetousness — hate True Godliness, and offer him but scanty 
entertainment. He next goes to the house of Poverty, but receives 
much the same welcome. Poverty had for his companions Unbe- 
lief, Ignorance, Sloth alias Idleness, Wastful, Lightfingers, &c. 
Finally True Godliness conies to the house of Thoughtful, who had 
embraced Consideration. Thoughtful would gladly have received 
him, but is hindered, for a time at least, by Old Man, Wilful Will, 
Carnal Affections, and Apollyon. 1 

The second allegory, as the title indicates, is a kind of com- 
panion-piece to the first. The last chapter describes the apprehen- 
sion, arraignment, trial, condemnation, and execution of Sin. The 
first place in which search is made is Youth-shire. But instead of 
Luxury and Lasciviousness only Gaieties and pleasant Pastimes 
are found. In the town of Riches Covetousness is discovered hid 
under the cloak of Thriftiness and Good Husbandry. The house 
of Mrs. Gay Clothes is searched for Pride. In Mt. Sion search 
is made, and in the house of Formality Sin is found under the 
name of Hypocrisy hid beneath the cloak of Religion and seeming 
Godliness. Sin is immediately brought to trial. The judge is Sir 
Sacred Scripture. He is attended by Sir Sublime Matter, Sir 
Antiquity, Sir Majestical Authoritativeness of the Spirit, Sir Infi- 
nite Holiness, Sir Sweet Harmony. The sheriff is Divine Wis- 
dom, the king's attorney-general Divine Justice, the solicitor general 
Divine Mercy, other council for the king Mr. Christianity and Mr. 
Primitive Purity. Those composing the jury are Sound Judgment, 
Divine Reason, Enlightened Understanding, Godly Fear, Holy 
Revenge, Spiritual Indignation, Vehement Desire, Fiery Zeal for 
the Town of Knowledge, Right Faith, True Love, Sincerity, 
Impartiality. The principal witnesses are Adam, late of Paradise, 

1 Dunton declares in his Life and Errors that he printed 10,000 copies of this 
book. 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 133 

Mr. Body of Manshire, Mr. Decalogue of Mt. Sinai, Mr. Ancient 
and Mr. Modern Records. Mr. Conscience testifies that Sin hath 
erected his throne in the house of one Mrs. Heart and there 
" foments, hatches, and contrives " all manner of heinous crimes. 
Sin is condemned to die without mercy. 

The Pilgrim's Guide from the Cradle to his Death-bed ; with his 
Glorious Passage from thence to the New Jerusalem. Repre- 
sented to the Life in a Delightful new Allegory, wherein the 
Christian Traveller is more fully and plainly Directed than 
yet he hath been by any in the Right and nearest way to the 
Celestial Paradice, by John Dunton. 1 
An Hue and Cry after Conscience ; or, The Pilgrim's Progress by 
Candle-light, in search after Honesty and Plain-Dealing. 
Represented under the similitude of a Dream. Written by 
John Dunton, Author of the Pilgrim's Guide from the Cradle 
to his Death-bed, London, 1685. 
Notwithstanding Dunton' s declaration that he " never printed 
another's Copy, went upon his Project, nor stole so much as his 
Title-page, or his Thought," 2 the Pilgrim's Guide from the Cradle 
to his Death-bed is a shameful plagiarizing from Bunyan's Pil- 
grim's Progress. 3 Evangelist has been changed to Theologus, the 
Slough of Despond to the Ditch or Moat of Despair, the Palace 
Beautiful to the Palace Delightful, Giant Despair to Disbelief. 
The book also contains traces of The Penitent Pilgrim, Bernard's 
Isle of Man, and Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man. 

The second allegory, An Hue and Cry after Conscience, has no 
plot, being simply a description of the vices and villainy of the 
times. It is mentioned by Dunton in his Life and Errors as one 
of the books which he regretted having written. 

The Conviction of Worldly -Vanity ; or, The Wandering Prodigal 
and his Return. London, 1687. [The " Address to the 
Reader" is signed "J. S."] 

1 Offor (in, 40) cites the third edition dated 1684. 

2 The Life and Errors of John Dunton, ed. by J. B. Nichols, London, 1818, i, 62. 

3 Strangely enough, Offor (in, 40) declares that it "is an allegory altogether 
different to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress." 



134 The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 

This is nothing more than a reprint of Cartheny's Voyage of the 
Wandering Knight under a new title. Like the two allegories of 
John Dunton just described, it is later than either the Pilgrim's 
Progress or the Holy War. The chief interest for us in these 
books is the testimony they give of the popularity of such works 
as the Isle of Man, the Pilgrimage of Man, and the Voyage of the 
Wandering Knight. 

Desiderius, or the Original Pilgrim: A Divine Dialogue. Shewing 

the most compendious Way to arrive at the Love of God. 

Render' d into English and explained with notes by Laurence 

Howel, London, 1717. 

The allegory " was written originally in Spanish, but the Time 

uncertain. Afterwards it was translated into Italian, French, 

High-Dutch, and Low-Dutch; and about the Year 1587 the 

learned Canonist F. Laurentius Surius, from the High-Dutch 

Version turn'd it into Latin. After him Arnoldus Vander Meer, 

a learned Licentiate of the Law, besides consulting the French 

and Dutch copies, coinpar'd it with the Original, and translated it 

into Latin. The last was Antonius Boetzer, who in the Year 1617 

from all the other Copies publish 'd a correct Edition of it in 

Latin at Collein " (Preface, pp. iii-iv). Nor is this the first time 

the book has appeared in English, declares the translator. " I am 

assurM," he continues, "that Mr. Royston, the Bookseller (some 

Years dead) very well knew that Dr. Patrick took his Pilgrim 

from it, and that several Authors, whom I could name, have 

form'd noble Designs from hence." 

Desiderius, the hero of the story, grows sick of earthly enjoy- 
ments and longs for something more sublime. He falls asleep, 
and in a dream there appears to him a virgin of angelic beauty, 
who directs him to a noble knight, Love of God. In his search 
for the knight, he meets an old shepherd who gives him his boy, 
Good-will, to conduct him to the house of Humility. He is 
admitted by the porter, Fear of God, and afterwards instructed 
by Humility. A virgin named Disregard conducts him through 
the several apartments of the house, which are presided over by 
Confession, Simplicity, Poverty, Obedience, and Chastity. Leav- 



The Sources of Bunyan's Allegories. 135 

ing the house of Humility Desiderius comes to a pleasant meadow 
in which stood the Royal Palace of Charity, the chief residence 
of the Love of God. The rest of the book consists of instructions 
received from Desire of God and Love of God. 

Like the Parable of the Pilgrim, this -book contains but few 
incidents. It is impossible to determine whether Patrick was 
familiar with it or not. In a general way it resembles the various 
allegorical pilgrimages that we have studied, and so may be re- 
garded as further evidence of the familiarity of the idea underlying 
them all. 

Summary. 

The books contained in this list belong to the category of alle- 
gorical pilgrimages, although they do not all treat precisely the 
same idea. A few represent under the symbolism of a pilgrimage 
the search for knowledge or truth. In most of them, however, 
the pilgrimage portrayed is the pilgrimage of the Christian life. 
In other words they are allegories based upon the same idea as the 
Pilgrim's Progress. 

The influence of Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man appears in 
Batman's The trauayled pylgreme, Pordage's Mundorum Exjplicatio, 
Dunton's The Pilgrim's Guide, and, with less certainty, in Stephen 
Hawes's Pastime of Pleasure. The trauayled 'pylgreme is also very 
similar to Cartheny's Voyage of the Wandering Knight, a book as 
we have seen strongly resembling Deguileville's allegory, while The 
Conviction of Worldly- Vanity published in 1687 is simply a reprint 
of Cartheny's Voyage. Benjamin Reach's Progress of Sin, which 
was published only a short time after the Holy War, was undoubt- 
edly inspired by Bernard's Isle of Man, traces of which also appear 
in The Pilgrim's Guide of John Dunton. 



CONCLUSION. 



The results of our study may be summarized as follows : 

1. Bunyan was among the last of a long line of authors to treat 
the course of man's spiritual life under the symbolism of a journey 
to Jerusalem. 

2. The idea of an allegorical pilgrimage, hinted at in the 
Bible, is distinctly expressed in several books otherwise not alle- 
gorical. It was even treated in a sustained allegory prior to 
Deguileville, but its wide popularity during the fifteenth, six- 
teenth, and seventeenth centuries must be attributed to his influ- 
ence. Several allegories belonging to this period reveal distinct 
traces of that influence. 

3. The Pilgrim's Progress contains resemblances, not only to 
the Pilgrimage of Man, but to these later allegories as well. 
These resemblances, however, are too general to justify the selec- 
tion of any particular allegory as the prototype of the Pilgrim's 
Progress. 

4. The most reasonable supposition seems to be that the idea 
of an allegorical pilgrimage had become common-property and 
the treatment of it conventional by the middle of the seventeenth 
century, and that Bunyan knowing that others had treated the 
same theme determined to try his hand at a similar allegory. In 
doing so, he adopted the framework which had been handed down 
to him from Deguileville through other allegorists, relying for the 
details of his allegory, however, not upon the works of his prede- 
cessors, but upon his own invention. 

5. One allegory alone stands as an exception to the foregoing 
statement — Ber nard's I sle of Man. It is highly probable that 
Bunyan was familiar with thTs little book, and that he was induced 
by it to write his second great allegory, the Holy War. 

136 



v 



LIFE. 



I was bom in Cumberland County, Virginia, March 4, 1872. 
A few years later my parents removed to North Carolina. My 
early training was received at private schools. In 1888 I entered 
Davidson College (N. C), from which institution I received the 
the degree of A. B. in 1892. The following year I taught in the 
Cape Fear Academy, Wilmington, N. C. From 1893-96 I was 
instructor in Latin and Greek at Davidson. In the meantime I 
pursued courses of study in English literature under Professor 
Currell, now of Washington and Lee University, and in 1895 was 
awarded the degree of A. M. From 1896-'99 I was a student of 
the Johns Hopkins University. In the fall of 1899 I accepted 
the professorship of English in the Southwestern Presbyterian 
University, Clarksville, Tenn., which position I still hold. 

My advanced work has been under Professors Bright, Browne, 
Wood, Vos, Armstrong, and Ogden. To all these I feel greatly 
indebted, and I take this opportunity to express to them my appre- 
ciation and gratitude. Especially do I wish to thank Professor 
Bright. His high ideals of faithful, scholarly work have been an 
unfailing source of inspiration, while his sympathy and help have 
been as generously extended as they have been gratefully received. 



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